


Legacies

by FeatherWriter11



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Family, Fear, Hallucinations, Hope, Kidnapping, Lies, Love, Memories, Pain, Psychotropic Drugs, Recovered Memories, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Tears, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27661523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeatherWriter11/pseuds/FeatherWriter11
Summary: After agreeing to work with Kara to stop Lex once and for all, Lena finds herself in the hands of her family.But the longer it takes for the Kryptonian to find her, the more Lena begins to wonder how much of what Kara has told her is actually true. And how much was just meant to keep her away from her real family - and their legacy.Starting at the end of Season 5, Legacies follows Lena through her darkest moments and memories. But who can you trust, when even those don't seem to add up?
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, J'onn J'onzz & M'gann M'orzz, Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Querl Dox/Nia Nal
Comments: 80
Kudos: 171





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the_humming_fox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_humming_fox/gifts).



> Another story that I couldn't get out of my head - dark, angsty and still full of hope and love.  
> I hope you'll enjoy <3

„Still no lead on Brainy?“

Lena shakes her head.

„How is that even possible?“ Alex‘s voice leaves no doubt that she is close to breaking point. Just like the rest of them. “It has been over a week! How can we not have any leads? Did Nia dream something?”

Kara shakes her head. They had sent Nia home to make it as easy as possible for her to conjure her power and focus on Brainy. But it didn’t work. Not yet.

“Most likely he is hiding from Lex. He doesn’t want to be found. I’m sure he is alright.” But as hopeful as they all had been a few days ago, Kelly’s words now don’t convince anyone. The room goes silent. Even Kara and J’onn don’t know what they could say and stare at the ground.

Lena tries to hold back a yawn. None of them had slept more than two hours a night since Kara had managed to shut down the simulation.

“We can’t go on like this”, M’gann finally says. “We’re all exhausted.”

Alex shakes her head: “I am not leaving here until we find him.” Kelly puts her hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder: “The program doesn’t need us to be here to continue its search. And it won’t do Brainy any good if we’re all too exhausted to save him once he is found.” She looks at the others for support.

J’onn nods silently. Kara sighs: “Kelly is right. We need a break.”

“We can’t just abandon him!”

“We’re not”, Lena replies instead of Kara. “My program is going to run until it finds Brainy. And once it does it’ll send all the information to our phones.”

That takes the wind out of Alex’s sails. She can barely keep herself upright anymore. J’onn nods towards M’gann and they leave the lab with Kelly and Alex. “We’ll check on Nia and then we’ll fly you home.”

Lena turns her chair back towards the screen. Her program scans the whole city for any unusual, Brainy-like, transmission-codes. 

“How do you get home?”, Kara asks.

Lena doesn’t turn around: “I am not going home. I have to make sure that everything works.”

“Absolutely not!” Kara breaks down the distance that she had established between the two of them ever since Lena knocked on her door a week ago. “You need to rest.”

“I can take it, Kara, I-“ 

“That was not a suggestion.”

Once again Lena is mesmerized by the force Kara can put into her words. She never used to do that. Supergirl had, of course, but not Kara. Not her best friend. But things change. People change. A year ago Kara would have joked that she would drag Lena out of the lab if she didn’t leave willingly. Lena would have laughed and told her to try her luck, which would have resulted in Kara poking Lena’s side- her only ticklish area – until she would have given in.

Today Kara just stares at Lena, her arms crossed in a way that is so untypical for her but so fitting for Supergirl. Lena sighs and stands up.

Together the two women step into the elevator. Both are too exhausted to start a conversation that would have to end at the front door of the L-Corp building anyway. Despite Kara accepting Lena’s apology, things weren’t the same. As much as Lena tried to please and convince Kara to let her back in, to trust her again, things moved slowly.

Especially with Lex still on the loose.

“Good night,” Kara says as they reach the limousine that would take Lena to her apartment. “Good night”, the dark-haired woman replies and wishes she could hug her friend.

But they aren’t there yet. Instead, she watches as Kara nods towards her before lifting off the ground and vanishing somewhere in the dark sky.

Lena bites her lip, shakes her head and gets into the car. “Home, please, Aaron.” Without a word, the driver steers the car onto the empty street.

They drive in silence, as usual, until Aaron takes a wrong turn.

“Is the road still blocked? The road works should’ve been finished –“ Lena stops. She doesn’t even remember which day it was. “—a few days ago.”

Her driver doesn’t answer. Lena frowns and leans forward to get her drivers attention. “Aaron? Is everything ok?”

He stops the car without a warning. Lena is thrown forward, her seatbelt the only thing that keeps her from crashing against the front seats. “Aaron, what the-“

“I am sorry, Miss Luthor”, Aaron's voice is barely more than a whisper. “But he threatened to kill my family.”

A split second later a sharp pain erupts in Lena’s neck and the world around her descends into darkness.

When Lena regains consciousness the room around her is spinning so fast that she would’ve thrown up had she eaten anything within the last 24-hours. She coughs and almost chokes on her saliva. Only when the room stops spinning she is able to sit up.

Lena wipes the tears from her eyes. Her head whirls as if she had been hit repeatedly. Methohexital. Lex’s drug of choice.

Carefully and slowly Lena stands up. The blood rushes through her body and after a few minutes she can think again. She looks around. The room is fairly small. There is just enough room for the small bed, a toilet and a sink. “So you plan on keeping me here…” The room doesn’t have a window. Lena lets her fingers run over the wall that is coated in a thin layer of lead. Lex is too smart to make it that easy for Kara to find her.

Instinctively Lena reaches for the watch Kara had given to her in what feels like a different life. Despite everything that had happened she had always kept it close – she had known from the beginning that Lex would betray her. But her pocket is empty. Of course. Just as the first curse words start to come over her lips Lena freezes. She looks down. A smile creeps onto her lips.

Maybe her dear brother is not as smart as he’d like to think.

Hours go by but Lena waits patiently. She’d waited weeks for Kara to finally tell her the truth, she could wait a few hours for her brother to choose which hideous speech he is going to give her. 

When the door is finally opened Lena stands up and crosses her arms: “A kidnapping? You wanted to see me that badly?”

Lex looks bigger than Lena remembered him to be. Granted, he has bags under his eyes from not sleeping enough – he never does when he is working on one of his homicidal plans – but other than that he seems to be stronger than ever. As if working on destroying the city and killing millions of people makes him thrive. On second thought… it does.

“Don’t be so pedestrian.” Lex returns in the same way he always does. “You chose your side.”

Lena shakes her head: “I chose not to stick around to watch how you turn my invention into a murder weapon. But-“ She stops herself.

“Now who would’ve believed it. The Kryptonian’s favorite pet is having second thoughts.”

“I am no one’s pet.”

Lex takes a step towards her: “No, I suppose you are too smart to be a pet. Brilliant, in fact.” He is attempting to reel her back in. He’s going to have to try a lot harder than that. Lena lifts an eyebrow as he continues: “You just never know how to use your brilliance. Abandoning me for her… I’ve expected more from you, sis.”

Lena bites her lip. This is neither the time nor the place to fall into his trap again. As he makes another step towards her Lena realizes that the door is still open. She won’t get a better opportunity. Gripping the metal in her hand ever tighter she slowly walks up to Lex, her eyes fixated on his, but her shoulders slouched over.

“I know.” She finally says to Lex’s and her own surprise. “It was a mistake to leave. I am sorry.” These words leave a bitter taste on her tongue, yet she continues. “Something is wrong with the world and I thought Supergirl could fix it. I was wrong.”

“You called me a monster”, Lex reminds her.

She nods: “Leave it to a Kryptonian to twist your thoughts until you see monsters in everyone but them.” Lex stares at her with an intensity that almost makes her back away from him. For the first time since he had entered the room, Lena lowers her eyes. She can feel the sense of power this gesture sends through his body. Good. Let him think he has already won. “And leaving wasn’t my only mistake…”

“No”, he replies. He doesn’t have to say anything else. Lena knows he wants to hear her struggle. A smirk appears on her face, too small for Lex to notice, but big enough for her to collect all her strength and courage. The adrenalin rushes through her veins.

“My biggest mistake was to let you live.”

Before Lex can make sense of what she’d just said, Lena launches forward and pushes him against the wall opposite from the door. Within fractions of a second, the blade in her hand starts to cut through skin. Just as the first drops of blood drip down his throat, Lex grabs her hand with a force that Lena had not anticipated. A short glance confirms the worst-case-scenario. Lex is wearing the gauntlet of his Lex-O-Suit. He laughs full-heartedly as Lena tries to escape his grip.

“I was wondering when your little tool would come into play.” He knew. “Oh, don’t look so surprised. You didn’t think I’d kidnap you without scanning you, did you?” Lena breathes heavily, still struggling against him. How could she have been so naive? “Drop it”, Lex orders but Lena isn’t done yet.

She pulls her knee up but it only connects with his thigh. “I said: Drop it!” Lena flinches as he screams. His grip around her arm grows stronger with every passing second. Tears stream down her face as she finally lets go and the small knife hits the ground with a soft . 

“Very innovative.” Lex taunts without loosening his grip. Lena tries to pull his hand away from her but she doesn’t stand a chance. The pain is almost unbearable and she knows it wouldn’t take more than a second for Lex to snap her wrist, break her arm or dislocate her shoulder.

“Lex”, she pleads, not caring anymore that she’s showing weakness. The pain is too much. “Please!”

He spins her around with ease and forces her to her knees, one arm twisted behind her back. A high pitched scream escapes Lena as she hits the ground and Lex presses his free hand against her neck to keep her down. “A knife in a heel – 12-year-old me would have been proud of you.” It sends shivers down Lena's spine how casually Lex continues their conversation. 

As if to regain her full attention Lex twists her wrist a little further. Lena cries out as a crackle echoes through her whole body. Tears fall to the floor as Lena gives in and crumbles.

“Oh my. So vulnerable. So easy to break.” Lex leans down, his breath brushing Lena’s cheek as he whispers: “You should have tried a pink knife.”

A sharp pain erupts in Lena’s neck but before she can even open her mouth to scream her senses are flooded with honey and she drifts off into the darkness.

Lena cries out and her eyes snap open. Immediately her fingers shoot up to her neck. But instead of skin, they touch metal.

“No…”

She sits up a little too fast in the bed and white points dance before her eyes. While trying to get her breathing back under control her fingers identify the object around her neck: a metal collar with a little box at the right side.

“You sick bastard.”

Lena pulls at the small lock at the back of the collar, but nothing happens. Of course not. Lex is neither careless nor an idiot. But at this very moment, Lena wished he was.

The modified dog collar vibrates for a split second and gives Lena just enough time to realize that it has been activated again before the electric shock renders her motionless for a few seconds. She can barely breathe.

Just as she starts to feel her fingertips again the door is opened.

“Good morning, Sis, I am sorry to wake you this early. I hope you slept alright in your new environment”, Lex says as if Lena had not tried to kill him a few hours ago. Only the small red line on his throat proves that it has really happened. And the dog collar, of course.

Lena wants nothing more than to wipe that self-indulgent smile off his face with a good punch. But she is not stupid either. With the sweetest smile on her face that she can conjure up she leans back to hide that her hands had started to shake uncontrollably.

“You just made the single most stupid mistake in your life, Lex.” He just stares at her. “We had no clue where you were but now… Supergirl is going to rip you apart.”

“No, she is not.” The smile on Lex’s face sends shivers down Lena’s spine. “The Kryptonian and her little friends were never any danger to me. All it takes to keep them at a safe distance is a sound-proof room that is lined with lead.” He gestures to the walls. “You on the other hand… Well, we both know that you are the only person that could stop me. And I can’t let that happen.”

Lena scoffs: “So you brought me here, to you, where I can stop you with a single blow? Well, I don’t know who the Monitor brought back from the dead, but you are way too stupid to be my brother.”

Before Lena can even move a muscle, Lex stands in front of her and yanks her to her feet. Lena grabs his hands and tries to break free. 

“Let go of me!”

Lex pulls her to the left and shoves her against the wall. A sharp pain erupts in the back of her head, but Lena has no time to even think about that. Her brother presses his left forearm, covered in the Lex-O-suit sleeve, against her chest and pulls out a small remote with his right. 

“No!”, Lena manages to cry out before the electricity races through her whole body, Lex’s grip the only reason she stays upright. Her eyes start to water as she tries to get air into her lungs, but her body doesn’t seem to react to any orders her brain is sending out.

As hard as she tries, she can’t move a muscle. She stares into Lex’s eyes. There is no emotion in them. As if she were an inanimate object. A falling vase, about to crash into a million pieces. And he ready to catch it the second before it hits the floor.

Just before Lena can’t take it anymore her body comes back to life. When Lex feels her knees buckle, he lets go. Lena falls to the floor, gasping for air, every muscle in her body shaking uncontrollably. She curses the second she got into the limousine. How could she have been so stupid?

“We have been at this point before, Sis.”

She coughs and tries to breathe in as deep as she possibly can.

“You don’t get to taunt me.” Lex’s voice is cold and cruel. Calculating. “You don’t even get to speak unless I ask you to.”

Lena pushes herself up against the wall to look her brother in the eyes as she replies: “I don’t play by your rules anymore.”

From the corner of her eyes, she sees his leg rear back. Her muscle memory kicks in and she blocks his foot with her shaking hands. The impact still knocks her against the wall, but it could have been much worse.

“Oh, I see”, Lex taunts. “There is that Irish fighting spirit. You’re going to need it.”

He turns around.

“Why don’t you just kill me now?”

“Why would I do that? You are a resource, Lena, one that I intend to use up to the last bit.”

She looks up at him and wonders how she ever could’ve loved this horrible man. “I’d rather die.”

“Well, dear, that is not your choice anymore. From now on your life and comfort are in my hands.”

The door falls shut with a loud bang. Tears stream down Lena’s face as she brings up her knees to her chest. She prays for Kara to hurry. 

Because his nightmare has just begun.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this second chapter <3  
> But be warned, it will not get any easier or more comfortable for our favorite Luthor.

Lex had taken control of everything. When he turns off the lights, Lena lies down and tries to get a few hours of sleep, before she is woken by a shock running through her body. Then the lights are turned on and she finds something to eat next to her bed.

At first, she hadn’t touched anything he would leave her. But after three cycles she realizes that she must eat to keep her wits up. Outsmarting Lex is her only chance to get out of here. She can’t risk being too weak to escape. So she eats.

Then she stares at the ceiling, the walls and paces around, trying to come up with plans. From time to time she examines the walls and the scarce furniture. But, of course, there are no obvious screws or nails that she could’ve used to get rid of the collar around her neck. Still, she pats down everything until the lights are turned off and she lies back down. 

After six cycles Lex had still not shown himself again. Lena starts to wonder what his endgame is. He needs her for something that much is clear. But what could that possibly be? As much as she hates to admit it, Lex is probably the smartest person on this planet. And with Supergirl in the dark about his whereabouts he has more than enough freedom to archive whatever he wants. Why does he need her?

She stares at her fingers. And waits. Without knowing for what exactly.

Lena tries not to show her surprise as the door is opened.

“I gave you time to think about everything. You know that you have two choices: You either help me willingly or we’ll have to do this the hard way.”

Lena scoffs. There is no >we< on the hard way. He’ll enjoy every second of it, that sick bastard.

Lex is a puppet master and makes everyone dance on his strings. If necessary by force. He was never afraid to get his hands dirty and once he crossed that line… there was no holding him back until he knew everything he set out to uncover.

For the first time in months, Lena is reminded of the scars on James’ body. During the trial, Lena had heard everything about the torture and what Lex had inflicted on James. When he had undressed in front of her for the first time, she’d almost started to cry. Lena had always known that Lex could be cruel, but she hadn’t understood what that really meant until she’d seen James’ scars.

And right now, that image gives her a glimpse of what awaits her should she deny her brother again. She swallows her doubts. She has been down this road before. She won’t make the same mistakes again.

“I’ve already told you. I’d rather die than to work with you again.”

Lena still doesn’t look up. 

“Fine”, Lex replies unsurprised. “Stand up.”

“No.”

She lifts her eyes. Lex seems to have expected her refusal. Lena watches him closely. If he’s going to shock her, at least she wants to be prepared.

“I am not your pet.”

“But of course not! You are my sister.”

Lena opens her mouth as the collar on her neck vibrates for a split second before rendering her unable to move a single muscle. Her eyes fill with tears as the electricity scrambles her every thought.

Lex shoves her slightly. Lena falls back onto the bed, her muscles shaking violently. Within seconds Lex is above her.

Her view is obstructed by her tears. She can barely see his face. But she can see him move. He takes something out of his pocket. With one hand he holds Lena’s eyes open while he carefully places lenses on her pupils.

“These are going to help you remember who you can really trust.”

No. Obisidan has been destroyed. Kara shut it down. 

As if he could read her mind Lex says: “It’s inconvenient that Supergirl destroyed Obsidian, but you didn’t think that would prevent me from using the technology to my advantage, did you?”

It’s getting hard for Lena to breath. Lex leans down and brushes a strand of hair out of her face. Lena wishes for nothing more than to be able to bite his finger off.

“Nice dreams, Sis.”

And with a push of a button, the world around Lena starts to fade into the virtual reality that Lex had designed to torture her.

A familiar feeling wakes Lena. The kind of feeling that she hadn’t had in years. She sits up and tries to figure out what this feeling reminds her of. It takes a few minutes until Lena remembers.

It is the same feeling she had whenever she would follow Lex down into his laboratory that he had built in the basement. He would sneak out in the dead of night to work on his experiments. And sometimes Lena would follow him. She would sit on the stairs and watch him. When he was in a good mood she used to ask questions. Why did he use the same colored wires every time? Why did he work with helium instead of hydrogen? 

And on very rare occasions he would ask her to help him. She’d stand next to him with big eyes and hand him whichever tool he needed. She wouldn’t say anything out of fear he wouldn’t like the question. But she loved watching him. 

Lena shakes her head. Situations like that were the only silvers linings for her when she was young. She sighs and picks up her breakfast that for some reason tastes exactly like what she used to eat when she was young.

And strangely enough, the whole day Lena feels like she is walking on clouds. Now and then she remembers a situation from her childhood that somehow makes her grin or smile. Lost memories, returning home. As if the wall that had kept them aside is finally breaking down. And when Lena falls asleep that night, she feels more content than she has in ages.

_Lena empties the glass in one go. The liquid burns its way down her body and for the first time in hours she can relax for a split second. It is already pitch black outside. Her assistant had gone home hours ago but Lena had not allowed herself to do the same._

_What would’ve been the point anyway?_

_She knows she won’t be able to sleep for the next few days. She doesn’t even know why. She only knows it’s not because of Eve’s – or better, Hope’s – arrest. It is because of the one person she doesn’t want to think about._

_Lena puts the glass down and walks over to the couch to pick up her handbag._

_Halfway across the office the door is pushed open and slams against the wall. Lena spins around and instinctively reaches for the handbag, which contains her gun. It is just within her reach. She isn’t foolish – the list of people who want to kill her is not a short one. But the person who storms towards her with an angry growl isn’t even in the top thirty._

_“Alex, what-“ Lena manages to get out before strong hands grab her and slam her into the wall. A sharp pain rushes through Lena’s back and it takes her a second to get her thoughts back in order. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Lena notices gladly that her voice is cold and superior._

_“No, you don’t get to speak!”, Alex hisses. The DEO Agent grabs the handbag and throws it across the room. So much for the weapon. Lena isn’t helpless without it, but her odds to win a fight against Alex are slim – even with the gun._

_Alex leans forward and pins Lena effectively against the wall. Her eyes are glowing with anger. In an attempt to free herself Lena brings up her knee, but Alex blocks it almost effortlessly. She lets go of Lena’s arm and instead presses her forearm against Lena’s collarbones._

_Lena is barely able to breath: “Alex! Stop! You are hurting me!”_

_“Good.” Lena has never seen Alex this angry before._

_“What are you arresting me for?” Lena asks while trying to break free from Alex’s grip. Unsuccessfully._

_“I am not arresting you.”_

_Lena frowns: “Then let me go!”_

_Alex doesn’t move a muscle. “I am here to make sure that you never try to kill or harm my sister again. I’ll hurt you in ways that you can’t even imagine.”_

_In any other situation, Lena would have scoffed and told Alex that was an impossible threat. She would remind her that whatever she planned to do, her family – especially Lex – had done worse. But when Lena opens her mouth all she can say is: “I didn’t load the canons with kryptonite.”_

_The older Danvers sister leans forward and thereby increases the pressure on Lena’s chest. The heiress gasps in pain and discomfort._

_“We both know that Eve did what she did because you told her so.”_

_“And you really think I would tell her to arm the canons with kryptonite?” Alex’s silence is answer enough and reminds Lena once again just how little the DEO agent actually thinks of her. Gasping for air Lena continues: “Those were Lex’s countermeasures. I stopped them.”_

_“Well aren’t you just a knight in shining armor.” Lena shifts and finds a position in which it is easier to breathe and the pain is not as bad. Alex could have easily stopped her but for the moment she wants to talk._

_“What about the kryptonite at the Fortress? And the countermeasures? Was that Lex’s doing as well?” So that’s what this is about._

_Lena shakes her head and returns through her teeth: “No. That was only to keep your sister occupied.”_

_“Occupied?! With all the kryptonite in her system, she could’ve died!”_

_It stings Lena that Alex thinks she could be capable of something like that. But then, her “friends” had made it perfectly clear what they see in her._

_Lena draws a deep breath and returns: “I should have known that all you’ll ever be able to see is the Luthor part of my name.”_

_“You almost killed her!” Alex's voice turns into a scream that sends shivers down Lena’s spine. Her love for her sister makes her more and more unpredictable._

_Lena shakes her head: “The kryptonite and the fortress’ defenses cannot kill Supergirl. I just weakened her – and made sure that she could not follow me.”_

_Alex stares right into Lena’s eyes: “Kara is claustrophobic. Because of the kryptonite, she was too weak to free herself. She stood there for hours, unable to escape and unable to calm herself. When we got there the panic was so strong that she nearly passed out.”_

_“W…What?” Lena stares at Alex in disbelief. Kara had never said a word about that. “I didn’t know!”_

_“Well, now you do. And I’ll make sure that you’ll never forget it again.” For the first time, Lena is scared of Alex. Her eyes are steady and her voice is too calm._

_Still pinning Lena against the wall Alex reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small syringe. It has no label on it and Lena has no doubts that it is more than illegal. This liquid should probably not even exist._

_“Alex, what-“_

_“I’m sure you have heard of Tabun.”_

_Lena’s eyes widen in horror. This cannot be real. This must be a bad dream. Alex would never- Lena cries out as Alex positions the needle right at her neck._

_“Stop it!” Lena screams and kicks against Alex's legs. But all it takes to render her motionless is a little more pressure from the syringe. Tears stream down Lena’s face. “Please, Alex, please!”_

_Alex leans in. Lena can feel her breath on her cheek as she says: “Don’t worry. I modified the nerve agent. The effect will not last forever, but long enough for you to experience what Kara had to go through after you left her in the Fortress.”_

_“NO!”_

_The needle pierces through flesh. Lena feels how the cold liquid rushes through her body. Alex still keeps her upright._

_“It can’t be that bad, though”, Alex continues as Lena’s legs begin to shake. The world is spinning around her. A sharp pain erupts in her head and makes it hard for her to see more than dark and light. Lena gags and tries to breathe but no air seems to reach her lungs. “Since it can’t kill you, right?”_

_With that Alex steps back. Lena collapses on the floor. Her body is shaking uncontrollably, her eyes are widened in horror._

_All Lena can concentrate on is panic. Her breathing is painfully quick and the world around her descends into darkness, leaving her with nothing but pain._

Lena’s scream echoes from the lead-lined walls. She sits up and gasps for air, her hands pressing against her chest. She cries hot tears as the panic slowly starts to fade.

Lena opens her eyes. And stares into darkness. It’s in the middle of the night. Lena can still see Alex’s face and feel her breath against her cheek. And she feels the pain. It lingers like a bad dream. But these feelings… they are too real to be a dream.

Lena tries to recall that day after Hope had sacrificed herself. She’d been in her office. Drinking. Thinking about Kara and what had happened. Before the Antimatter-wave had destroyed everything and altered her life forever.

Did Alex come to the office? Did she scream at Lena? Pin her against the wall? Injected her with that modified nerve agent?

No. No way.

Again.

Lena knows she had been drinking. And then she went home. Or did she? Somebody came to the office. But was it really Alex?

Lena buries her face in her hands. 

The pain had been too real to be made up. This was not just a dream.

Her shaking fingers move towards her neck. And find a small scar, nothing more than a little point. Caused by a needle?

Again and again, she sees Alex’s eyes before her own. Feels the panic rushing through her body. With a scream, Lena collapses to the floor and curls up.

Alex would never have done something like this.

Right?

That’s when it hits her. 

This is all Lex. This is what he uses the lenses for. To make her live through her worst nightmares. To try to convince her that he is the one she should trust. It’s just Lex’s sick game.

Immediately Lena is on her feet. While she holds her eye open with one hand she tries to grip the lens with the other. Even with a mirror that would have taken her a few tries but without one it proves to be almost impossible.

“Fuck!”

She tries to grab it again. Her eye shuts close reflexively. 

“Come on!”

But her fingers can’t seem to find what she’s looking for. “Stay calm”, she mutters to herself and tries it again. Much slower this time. Just when the tips of her fingers touch the lens, a sharp pain erupts in her neck and forces her up screaming. It’s not a paralyzing pain. It’s as if she is burning. Her neck is ablaze.

When the pain slowly fades away Lena is still crying. She clenches her teeth.

“If you want to stop me, you’ll have to kill me!”, she screams while grabbing the lens as fast as humanly possible. The pain in her eye gets worse as her nails scratch the sensitive tissue, but before it can shut completely, she holds the lens between her fingers.

The triumphant feeling doesn’t last for long. Her neck catches on fire again. Lena screams in pain, yet she manages to throw the lens to the floor and crushes it with her foot. That’s when she smells it. Burning flesh. She gags as the scent grows more intense. Every muscle in her body is shaking from the intense pain. It’s too much.

Lena drops to the floor. All she can see is red. All she can smell is her own burning flesh. And all she can think is: Please, make it stop!

“Sis, please! Lena! You have to stop! You’re hurting yourself!”

The next thing Lena knows is that she’s lying on the floor, her hands clenched to fists. She fights against the strong hands of at least two men holding her down without even knowing why. When did someone enter the room?

“You need to give her something, Mother.”

Only now Lena realizes that next to a few unknown figures Lex kneels right next to her, his hand placed on her forehead. Almost as if he is trying to calm her.

“I can’t, Lex.” Lena’s eyes widen but she can still only see silhouettes around her. Yet that is all she needs to realize that her mother is standing behind Lex. “Without knowing which drug Supergirl used on her, everything we give her could cure or kill her. I am not going to risk that.”

What are they talking about? Lena breathes heavily. Why are they even here? Then it hits her. The lenses. She still needs to get rid of the second one.

“Take them out!”, Lena screeches. 

“Take what out, Lena?”

“The lenses!”, Lena screams and manages to free one of her hands. Immediately she tries to grab the second lens. But there is nothing there.

Lex grabs her arm tightly. “You need to stop and calm down!”

“What did you do to me?”, Lena cries out, tears streaming down her face. She doesn’t care anymore that Lex and Lillian see how weak she is. She just wants all of it to stop.

“Darling, this is not our doing”, Lillian replies. Even through the veil of tears, Lena sees the sparks in her mother’s eyes. “This is the Kryptonian’s doing.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the third chapter!  
> I am blown away by everyone's support and incredibly kind comments. <3  
> Feel free to share the story!

Lena scoffs. Of course, they would try to manipulate her. They are Luthors after all.

“I don’t want to hear your lies”, she gets out, while the person next to her grabs her wrist again and renders her motionless. “You can torture me, you can feed me false memories, but you-“

Within fractions of a second everything around Lena dissolves into darkness.

_Lena slowly walks over to Brainy, who is focusing all of his brain-power on the Phantom Zone Projector on the table._

_“Look, Brainy, I know you haven’t asked for help, but you’re getting it anyway.”_

_“No! I need my minds consumed with this problem so that I don’t think of Nia.”_

_Lena places her hand on the table. Brainy looks up from his work._

_“What happened to your little boxes?”_

_Brainy takes a shaking breath and releases it. Lena watches him closely. Something seems to be raging beneath the surface._

_“Little boxes prevented me from having a real relationship. Unfortunately, my unboxed-self doesn’t make a particularly good boyfriend. So I have been analyzing myself, for days. And you know what I found?”_

_Lena raises an eyebrow. Brainy is much more agitated than usual. His hands are closed to fists. A gesture that Lena might have expected from Supergirl or Alex, but not from Brainy._

_“I found that the fault does not lie in me at all. It lies in you.”_

_Lena frowns and crosses her arms in front of her chest: “What is that supposed to mean?”_

_“Your little boxes destroyed everything!” He bangs the tool he was holding on the table. Lena flinches but stands her ground._

_“I was only trying to help.”_

_“Yes, of course. You are always only trying to help”, he squeezes out between his teeth. “But that doesn’t make your actions any less harmful for everyone around you. Do you even notice that? That no matter what you do, you always disappoint. You always harm. Because no matter how much you might want to escape the reality of it, you are a Luthor after all.”_

A painful shock runs through Lena’s body.

“I am nothing like Lex!”, she screams. Her chest feels as if it is about to burst. The electricity snaps her back into reality. Lena breathes in as deep as she can, her eyes wide open.

“Let go.”

Her arms are released and instinctively Lena curls up. Coughs disrupt her attempts to get enough air into her lungs.

“Slowly. Deep breaths.” Lex’s voice is nothing more than a faint whisper. But when Lena feels his hand on her shoulder again, she can’t resist the urge to reach out to him. To something that she knows is real.

Tears stream down Lena’s face. When she has calmed enough to get the words out, she asks quietly: “What are you doing to me?”

Lex sweeps a strand of hair out of her face, but Lena is too weak and to preoccupied with breathing to avoid his touch. “We’re saving you.”

The sound of high heels on the cement floor echo through the room, as Lillian walks up to her children. She places a hand on Lex’s shoulder. “I think it’s time that we show her.”

Lena looks up, still barely able to have a clear thought. “Show me what?”

“Can you stand up?”

Lena’s legs are still shaking, but with the help of Lex and one of the men, she can stand up. The blood rushes through her body and she has to wait for a few seconds before she can take the first step forward. Lex waits patiently until she is secure enough on her own feet to walk without help.

With every step, Lena regains control over her thoughts a little more. What had just happened? She remembers that day at the DEO. 

But it didn’t go like that. No. That couldn’t have been real. 

Lena slowly lifts her hand to brush a strand of hair out of her face. While doing so she carefully touches her eye. Lex was right. There is no lens. But how can he make her see all of these things without the virtual reality lenses? What is going on here?

Lex and Lillian lead her into a room that’s at least ten times as big as the one Lena had been in for the last few days. It is brightly lid, but the people in the white lab coats don’t seem to be bothered by the bright light. Quite contrary to Lena. 

She squints and it takes her a few seconds before her eyes adjust to the sudden brightness. Lex leads her to a medical bed. An uneasy feeling creeps up within Lena, but she manages to keep a calm demeanour. There is nothing more dangerous than exposing weakness to a Luthor.

Only now Lena realizes just how much weakness she had already shown to her brother and mother.

“You can sit down if you want to”, Lillian offers.

Lena declines despite still being a little weak on her feet. “What are you going to do?”

Without warning, Lex sticks a needle into her arm. She has to resist the urge to pull her arm back and punch him, which is harder on her than she’d thought. Being captured and tortured by weird dreams is not the best circumstance for one’s impulse control.

Lex fills the syringe with Lena’s blood and withdraws carefully.

“Thanks for the warning, Lex.”

“You’re not afraid of needles, so why the warning?”, he says completely focused on dropping some of the blood in smaller containers. Lena frowns. Something is wrong. He is … nervous. Lex is never nervous. Come what may, the one thing you can count on is that Lex has a plan.

Lena eyes her mother, who puts on a lab coat and takes the containers from Lex to place them in the centrifuge on the table. She seems nervous too.

Lena takes a few steps backwards and leans against the bed. She watches Lillian and Lex closely. They work without speaking, knowing exactly what to do. Every movement was choreographed, every step carried out for the thousands of time. It makes Lena wonder what exactly they had been doing within the last few months. She turns her head and looks around inconspicuous. There are three doors but none of them seems to lead to the outside. And there are no windows. So they are still on the sublevel.

One of the other scientists leaves the room with some samples. Lena wonders what they could contain. She watches as the door opens and gets a short glance at what lies behind it. A grey hallway. No stairs. No elevator. At least not close enough to the lab.

“Ok, now pull it up on the screen.”

Lena turns to see Lillian typing something and Lex staring at the computer screen. The results from what Lena figures was a blood test, appear on the screen. She walks a little closer. Everything seems to be perfectly normal. 

Except for the big spike in something that is marked with a simple X. Lena frowns.

“What is that X supposed to be?”

Lillian shrugs her shoulders: “We wish we knew.”

Lena lifts an eyebrow.

“It’s a substance that we found in your blood. We have no idea what it is. It looks alien to me”, Lex explains and pulls up another diagram. “This is what it looked like two days ago.” The graph shows a spike over the X again, but this time it is much higher. No matter the substance, such a high concentration in anyone’s blood would be worrying.

“What did you inject me with?”

Lex scoffs: “Of course you would think this was our doing. But it wasn’t. Your friends must have drugged you to keep you with them.”

It takes all of Lena’s strength to hold back a sarcastic answer. It wouldn’t be wise to upset Lex. She needs to play the part he assigned to her. And this whole charade only leads to one conclusion: He needs her help. Why else would he try to shatter her trust in Supergirl? 

Still. She has to be smart about this.

“Why would Supergirl do that?”

Lex shrugs his shoulders: “To keep you with her. To make sure that you don’t realize where you really belong.”

Lena raises one eyebrow: “And you think that I belong here, with you.”

“We are your family after all”, Lillian answers instead of her son. Wordlessly Lex turns around and puts some of the samples of Lena’s blood in a freezer a few feet away.

Lena chuckles: “Family. Right. Then why don’t you take this collar off so that we can talk to each other like a normal family?”

Lillian sighs: “I wish I could. This is our only way of snapping you back into reality when you have an episode. It protects you.”

Lena frowns: “From what?”

“From Supergirl”, Lillian answers a little too fast and only loud enough for Lena to hear. “If it is touched and detects Kryptonian-DNA, it will release pulverized Kryptonite. Should Supergirl ever try to rip it from you, she will be weakened more than she ever has.”

“From sinking back into her control of you”, Lex answers and walks back over. Lena keeps staring at her mother, but she acts as if she hadn’t said anything. Lena wonders if she even had or if she had just imagined it. “We only use it in your best interest.“

Lena laughs out loud: “Oh? Is that why you used it to almost kill me?” Lillian and Lex exchange a confused look.

It is Lillian who finally says: “What are you talking about?”

“What I’m talking about?” Rage starts to grow within Lena. Her hands close to fists. “Lex nearly killed me by bringing me here! He shocked me until I passed out! He pinned me against the wall and-“

Lex doesn’t let her finish: “Today was the first time that I saw you after you were brought here.”

Lena scoffs: “Right. What are you going to tell me next? That I didn’t attack you with a knife? That you didn’t break my…” Lena looks down at her wrist. The one that Lex had within his grasp when he had pushed her to the floor. When he took her knife. Lena closes her eyes. She can still feel the cold floor underneath her. She remembers the pain that had shot through her whole arm. Carefully she rotates her wrist, already aware that it does not hurt.

That’s impossible.

“You…”, she starts again. “You came to me a few hours after you kidnapped me. I- I know it. I-“

Her jaw starts to quiver. 

“A few days later you came again! And you paralyzed me with the collar before you put the lenses in my eyes – and then – “

There were no lenses. She tried to get them out, almost blinded herself with her fingernails, but there were no lenses. Could that be why? Could Supergirl have done that? Lied to her, drugged her, only to keep her?

“You should sit down”, Lillian urges, but Lena pushes her hand away.

“No!”, Lena shouts. “If what you are saying were true, then why keep me here? Why hold me in a cell for days on end?”

Lex clears his throat: “You’ve only been here for two days, Lena. We monitored you closely through the collar. It wasn’t safe for us to enter while you were still completely under the influence of the drugs given to you by your friends.”

Lena shakes her head: “That’s a lie.” Desperately she tries to remember how many days had passed. They all blur into one picture that she doesn’t want to see.

“What are you saying?”, she demands to know. “That I’ve imagined being here for over a week? That nothing I remember of my time here is real?”

“All we know is that you’re in withdrawal. And since we didn’t know what would happen during the time it takes for your body to get rid of the alien drug, we watched from a distance. But at the first sign of you harming yourself, we stopped you.”

“That was an hour ago”, Lena says to herself, as if to remind her, that not everything she remembers is fake.

Lillian nods: “Yes. Had we known how severe the hallucinations were, we would have stepped in sooner.”

Lena doesn’t listen anymore. She lets her look wander through the lab, frantically trying to make sense of everything she had just heard.

“So everything was a hallucination?”, Lena asks. A part of her is relieved to know that Alex had not injected her with a lethal drug to take revenge and that Brainy had not said these words to her. She takes a deep breath and slowly releases the air from her lungs. 

“Lena”, Lex attracts her attention. “While we do think that you had some hallucinations caused by the rest of the alien substance in your blood – apparently about us – what we call your episodes weren’t hallucinations.”

Lena starts to fidget with her hands. She doesn’t want to look at anyone. All of this just can’t be true. This can’t be happening. Not to her. Not again.

Lena knows what Lex is going to say, yet reality hits her harder than she had anticipated when Lex continues: “We suppose your episodes were caused by the withdrawal but not because of the drug. Whatever you have been seeing are memories that had been suppressed by the alien compound in your body.”

Tears rise into her eyes. Lena shakes her head: “No. Impossible. You’re wrong.”

Lillian takes a step towards her, but Lena stops her: “Not a step closer!” 

Her mother puts her hands up and remains at a distance. Lena runs her fingers through her hair. Memories. Not hallucinations. That’s why it felt so real. That’s why she couldn’t break out of it until Lex activated the collar.

And that’s why she couldn’t remember what had really happened that day. Because that is what had happened. 

A part of Lena still tries to shove this explanation as far away as possible. But that part can’t control the tears that run down her cheeks.

“Kara never would have done that!”, Lena screams out in a last attempt to convince herself of this lie. 

Lex nods: “No, Kara Danvers wouldn’t have. But what about Supergirl?”

That’s what makes Lena look up.

“You always assumed that Kara is who your ex-best friend is. But what if you were wrong about that? What if at her core, she is Supergirl. Distrusting of anything and anyone who could look through her shining facade to see who she really is. Not a savior. Not a hero. But a threat.”

No. Even Supergirl would never be that cruel.

Right?

Supergirl believes in the best in people. She is the embodiment of hope. Not of cruelty.

“You are lying”, Lena whispers and wipes her tears away. “You’re trying to lure me back in. That’s why you won’t take the collar off. But I won’t fall for that again.”

Lex sighs: “Lena… Sweet Lena… I could just tell you what you want to her and lock you up. But I won’t. Because despite what you think of me, I don’t like to see you suffer. And you deserve the truth.”

Lena refuses to look at any of her relatives. Instead, she buries her face in her hands. Her thoughts whirl around uncontrollably. 

So it had all been a lie. Kara forgiving her. The team working with her. The promise to hunt down her brother. It had been nothing more than a sick game Supergirl had been playing with her. And everyone else had been playing along. Torturing her and making her forget it, to keep her trust. As if she’s just some pawn in their game.

Lena feels the rage running through her veins again.

She clears her throat but doesn’t manage to sound as strong as she had hoped: “Why would Supergirl do this?”

“Because she knows how dangerous you can be. That’s why she tried to keep you away from us with all her might. She knew that as soon as you realize what’s going on, she wouldn’t be able to stop you.”

“Stop me from doing what?”

Lex carefully places a hand on her shoulder: “From revealing to the world that she is nothing more than another alien threat that has to be eradicated.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy the story so far!  
> Now we finally get to really check in with the Team again - but are they who they say they are?  
> Enjoy :)

“I’ve flown over the city hundreds of times! There is nothing! Not a heartbeat, not a scream, nothing! How is this even possible?” Kara paces up and down the room, her fingers interlocked. “She can’t just be gone!”

Alex watches her sister closely. The Superhero seems to have forgotten that she is still there.

“Kara”, she says, trying to think of something that might calm her down, but Kara doesn’t even seem to hear her.

“Lex knows my powers, but how can he hide her so perfectly? Maybe he brought her out of the city, somewhere else, where I wouldn’t even think to look. What if that’s what he did, what if they aren’t in National City anymore? I should-“

“Kara!” Alex has to raise her voice to get her sister’s attention. “Breathe!”

Kara turns around and just stares at Alex: “I should have checked on her. I should have made sure that she had gotten home safely. I told her I forgive her, but I still held a grudge, Alex. This is all my fault.”

Alex takes a step towards Kara and takes her hands. “Breathe. Even if that were true, you can’t let that distract you right now, ok? Everyone here wants to find Lena. But we need you focused on that goal, you hear me?”

Kara breathes out shakily. Then she nods: “Yes.”

“Good.”

Together they walk back to the others, who have gathered around the computer that is still searching for a signal from Brainy. Nia sits on the ground a few feet away, leaning against the wall. She has sunken deep into a dream, her eyes closed, her face distorted.

Kelly keeps an eye on her and only turns around when Alex reaches for her hand. “How is she?”

Kelly sighs: “Not good. She is watching the man she loves die slowly. Over and over again.”

“She found nothing new?” 

Kelly shakes her head and looks into her girlfriend's eyes: “Do you really think that Brainy can help us find Lena?”

Alex shrugs: “I hope so. He worked with Lex, maybe he knows where his hideout is.”

“If he stays alive long enough for us to find him”, M’gann returns silently.

“Yeah…”

“They can’t just be gone”, Kara speaks into the silence. “There must be something that we’re missing.”

J’onn nods: “I agree, but we have circled the city many times and came up empty. I don’t know what else we can do.”

“Hello?”

Everyone turns to see Eve walking out of the elevator. She fidgets with her hands and stops a few feet away from everyone. Her hair is neatly combed, but she has dark circles under her eyes as if she hadn’t been sleeping for a while. Just like everyone else in the room. Kelly had given up on trying to make the heroes sleep through the nights, but she had insisted on short naps every now and then. That’s the only reason Alex can still stand on her own feet.

“Eve!”, Alex exclaims. “Thank you so much for coming. We know that you’ve been through a lot and after everything-”

“It’s alright”, Eve smiles. “You saved me. And my mother. If I can help in any way, of course, I will. Especially if it can help Lena.” The tension in the room is tangible. “So what do you need me to do?”

Alex sighs: “I wish we knew.”

With a scream, Nia wakes from her dream, startling the other heroes. Immediately Kelly and J’onn are by her side, giving her a few seconds to snap back into reality.

“No!”, Nia yells again and punches against the wall behind her. No one has to ask to know that she has not found out anything new. Kelly soothingly strokes her back, but Nia is having none of it.

She pushes her away and jumps up. “I give up!”, she screams. “This is hopeless!”

“No, it isn’t”, Kara tries to calm her. “We’ll find a way.”

Nia walks up to her, her eyes filled with tears of pain and anger. “Oh yeah? And what exactly will that way look like? Because I’ve done everything I can. I dream of him, but I can’t figure out where he is. I astral project myself there, but I cannot help him. What else am I supposed to do? Tell me, Supergirl, what else is there to do?”

The young hero stares at Kara, her look begging for a solution, a plan, anything, that could give her hope. But Kara doesn’t have any hope left in her to give. Not with Lena missing. The lab sinks into a sickening silence.

“Did you say you can astral project?”

Slowly Nia turns to Eve, unsure when she had entered the lab. She nods: “Yes. But I can’t touch him or anything else. It’s useless.”

Eve shakes her head: “No, not at all! This program-“ She points at the computer. “The way I understand it, it searches for specific transmission codes.”

Alex nods: “It is programmed to find Brainy.”

“Yet, it can’t detect him.” Alex nods. Eve takes a deep breath: “What if we weren’t focusing on Brainy’s signature, but another one, that we know will be there.”

“Eve, we don’t have time for this. What are you talking about?”, Kara demands to know.

“Dreamer’s astral projection emits a certain type of ions. Just like Brainy’s transmission codes would. If we can reprogram the system to scan for Dreamer’s astral projection-“

“-then we can locate her. And by doing so, we’ll also locate Brainy”, Alex finishes her sentence. Eve nods.

J’onn looks from Eve to Alex and back to Eve. Then he asks: “Can you make this work?”

“I’ll do my best”, Eve answers.

J’onn nods: “Good. While you work on that, M’gann and I will circle the city again.”

From one second to the next everyone seems to respire. It’s only a small straw, but it’s better than what they had a few minutes ago. While Alex, Kelly, Dreamer and Eve settle in around the computer, J’onn and M’gann leave for another patrol around the city.

Kara takes a few steps away from everyone, the newly won hope running through her veins like a drug. She sends a silent prayer into the night. “Please, Lena, stay strong”, Kara whispers, her eyes closed and her fingers clawing at the edge of the table. “Don’t let Lex get to you.”

Lena’s head is whirling. Kara is her friend. So is Alex. And Brainy. They would never harm her. 

Would Supergirl?

Another thought creeps into Lena’s mind. She looks up at her brother: “I want to see the test results. All of them.” She doesn’t need to say anything else. It’s clear what she’s playing at. What if all of this is not Supergirl’s game at all, but Lex’s?

He takes his hand off her shoulder and makes an inviting gesture towards the computer.

“Be my guest.”

Lena pulls herself together as good as she can and walks over. Only now she realizes that she is still barefooted. 

“I want my shoes back”, she exclaims.

“Of course”, Lex returns. He signals one of the scientists to get on that. The man just nods and leaves the room quickly.

Lena pulls the keyboard a little closer and scrolls through the results of the test Lex had just conducted. Everything seems to be normal. Everything except for the unknown substance.

She stares at the little X. Then something else catches her attention. Needles and test containers. Lex could have manipulated the test results. If everything else he told her was a lie, then he definitely has. If she conducted another blood analysis herself… then she could expose him.

Her fingers move around on the keyboard, stalling Lex from interrupting her. Giving her more time to think.

As long as Lex is in control of her through the collar, exposing his lies would not be in her best interest. If she played along, she could find a way to alarm Kara, to get the team here to save her and bring Lex down once and for all. But there is a tiny voice inside of her, whispering: _What if Supergirl is the real enemy here? What if your brother is telling the truth?_

Lena tries to quiet this voice, but it just grows louder with any passing moment. She needs to know. Even if that means revealing to Lex that she doesn’t believe him. Even if that means that she’ll be a prisoner again. Everything would be better than to not know what to believe.

Without saying a word she takes one of the needles and pries the packaging open. Lex doesn’t stop her.

“Do you want me to draw the blood?”

Lena just shakes her head and rolls up her sleeve. It takes her a few tries to prick the needle into a vein, but then her blood trickles into the syringe. She turns. Lillian passes her a small container. Lena ignores her and instead takes one from the table. If she has learned one thing from the Luthors, then it’s that you should always distrust until you have proof that you can trust someone. Maybe if she had followed that advice she wouldn’t be in this situation at all.

Lena places the sample in the centrifuge. She works in trance, every thought focused on her course of action, yet also overly aware of every movement Lex makes. Maybe she’ll get a chance to escape once she knows the truth. A needle isn’t her weapon of choice, but it’s all she has available. A precise stab into an eye could buy her enough time to get a hand on the remote and to make a run for it. 

At least she doesn’t have to worry about falling in her heels.

She tries to slow her breathing as she waits for the results. The Damocles sword of truth dangling over her head. Time seems to stand still. Lex must be lying. There is just no other way.

_There is. And you know it._

Lena shakes her head, but she knows that she won’t be able to get rid of this voice that easily. The only thing that could do that would be different test results from the one Lex had just shown her.

“Your shoes.”

She turns to see the scientist place her heels on the ground. When she look backs at the screen, the new results start to manifest. Lena leans a little closer. And just like that the Damocles sword falls down on her and shatters everything that Lena had ever believed in.

She stumbles backwards, her eyes fixated on the test results.

Supergirl had been lying to her. This whole time.

After a few seconds, she regains control over her body. “Show me the security tapes.”

Lex just looks at her, his face a mask of enigma.

“I want to see everything. From the second you brought me here, until now.”

Her brother walks to the computer and pulls up the videos from the security cameras. Lena takes her place next to him and watches from different camera angles how a man carries her unconscious self through the hallways, Lex following right behind. She looks a little closer. The collar is already around her neck.

Lena glances at the time stamp and then at the date shown on the edge of the screen. Two days ago.

There isn’t a camera in the room she had been kept in. But in the hallway that leads to it. She watches as hours go by in seconds. Then Lex, Lillian and a few of their men hurry down the hallway and into the room. A moment later, they walk out with Lena and vanish at the edge of the screen.

Lex had been telling the truth.

“Satisfied?”, Lex asks.

Lena can’t get out a single word.

“Give her some time, darling”, Lillian says and places a hand on Lena’s shoulder. A beeping noise attracts Lena’s attention. She looks at Lex, who turns off the signal on his watch.

He smiles at her apologetically: “Duty calls. Get your thoughts in order, Sis. We need your noggin working and focused.”

Without another word, he leaves the laboratory. Only now Lena realizes, that the other scientists had left as well. Now it was only her and Lillian.

“Did you know?”, Lena asks.

Lillian raises an eyebrow: “Well, of course not. I had my suspicions, of course, but even I didn’t think that Supergirl would take such extreme measures.”

Lost in a swirl of painful and destructive thoughts, Lena runs her fingers along the collar. Supergirl might have betrayed her, but that doesn’t mean her family isn’t playing with her as well.

“Get me out of this collar”, she demands. “Now that I know everything, you don’t need it anymore.”

“Yes, we do”, Lillian responds unfazed. “We don’t know how else to wake you when you’re having one of your episodes.”

“Isn’t there another way?”, Lena asks. “Maybe a bracelet or something? This is humiliating.”

Lillian sighs: “We can’t be sure that a bracelet would have the same effect. And we can’t risk not being able to pull you back out of those memories. Not when you are so close to freeing yourself from Supergirl’s control.”

Lena knows that her mother is right, yet she can’t resist the urge to run her fingers along the leather collar again.

“But I know something that might help against that feeling of humiliation.” Lillian takes off her necklace and reveals a key that had been hidden under her blouse. She unlocks one of the cabinets and takes out a remote control just like the one Lex had used to control the collar. “When you feel a new memory washing over you, press this button once. It’ll get you right back into reality.”

Lena turns the small remote between her fingers.

“Why are you giving me this?”

Lillian raises an eyebrow. Sometimes Lena wonders if they really aren’t biological mother and daughter. “Because you are not a prisoner here. This collar is for your protection. Nothing else.”

Lena doesn’t sleep at all that night. Her conversation with Lex and Lilian plays in her head over and over again. Like a broken record designed to torture Lena. Proving to her once more that she had been a fool.

Again Supergirl had managed to chip away her armor as if it was made of glass. And maybe it was. Maybe Lena had been a little too eager to be one of the good guys. A hero. She scoffs. Why did she have to be so gullible?

The worst thing is that Lena always knew. Or at least suspected it. There was something in the way Kara, or better yet, Supergirl had been treating her. Even after she found out that they were the same person, it felt as if she was keeping something from her. But she never would have guessed what kind of cruel and devastating secret that was.

That she was not the knight in shining armor or the hero who brings hope, help and compassion for all. All she is, is a cruel liar, a villain that hasn’t yet revealed their evil plan to the world.

When the lights turn on again, Lena still sits on the bed, leaning against the wall.

“Good morning, Sis”, Lex says like every time he had visited her this early. Lena shakes her head. He hadn’t done that yet. It had just been a hallucination. Nothing more. “I hope you slept well.”

She scoffs: “I haven’t slept at all.”

He nods as if he already knew: “Do you feel up to a tour?”

“Yes!” Immediately Lena is on her feet. She needs to make sense of all of this. And what better way to do so than to understand what Lex has been up to and how he plans to push the false queen from her throne.

Lex smiles at her approvingly: “Follow me.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And just like that, the devide widens... Will the team be able to save Brainy? And how will Lena cope with the knowledge of what Supergirl had been doing to her?
> 
> Another Saturday, another chapter!  
> Enjoy and let me know what you think! :)  
> <3

„How much longer is this going to take?“, Nia asks and can’t suppress a yawn anymore.

Kelly puts a hand on her shoulder: “Doesn’t matter. You need a nap.”

Nia shakes her head: “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not”, Alex answers instead of Kelly. She leans in and whispers to Nia: “And you don’t want her to force you to take a nap. Trust me.”

That draws a little smile on Nia’s face that quickly transforms into another yawn. She holds up her hands defensively. “Fine, I’ll take a nap. But as soon as you get the program to work-“

“We’ll wake you”, Kelly promises.

Nia lies down on one of the medical beds that Lena uses for her experiments. Kelly softly places her head on Alex’s shoulder. They are both tired, but neither is going to admit to it until they have saved Brainy.

Eve has been working without saying a word for the last few hours. At first, she had scanned Dreamer’s powers and translated the signature into some kind of trail that they would be able to follow. Then she had started to rewrite Lena’s program.

J’onn and M’gann had left a few minutes ago to get something to eat. And Kara… Alex sighs. Kara flies over the city without a destination, hoping against all hope that she might pick up a signal from Lena, that she had missed the last hundred times.

Alex embraces Kelly closely. After a few minutes, she closes her eyes. The silence in the room is almost deafening. Every now and then Nia babbles a few words in her sleep, then the shifts and calms down again. They stand there for what feels like an eternity.

“How is everything coming along, Eve?”, Kelly finally asks. She has been worried about her, but the lack of sleep doesn’t seem to affect Eve at all. The blonde doesn’t even turn around. She is completely focused on the computer screen.

She shrugs her shoulders: “Something like this has probably never been done before. It could already work, but I won’t risk destroying the whole program when there is still a 7% chance it could fail.”

Alex’s eyes snap open: “Did you say, there is a 93% chance the program could already work?” The agent doesn’t even wait for Eve’s answer. Instead, she untangles herself from Kelly and calls out: “Dreamer!”

Immediately the young hero is on her feet, her hands raised before her chest, ready to fight. It takes her a few seconds to realize that whatever had woken her was not a fight, but Alex, who is now furiously motioning her to come closer. Nia walks over, yawning.

“The program is ready!”, Alex explains. Eve doesn’t let her say another word: “That is not true. It could still fail. Miss Luthor always-“

“I know that Lena demands a 100% chance for success in everything she does. But that takes time. And time is something that we don’t have right now. Brainy has been missing for almost ten days. And a 93% chance is better than none.”

Eve just stares at her. Kelly clears her throat: “What happens if it should fail?”

Alex shoots her a glance. Her girlfriend should be on her side.

“Best case scenario, we don’t get a location. Worst case scenario, the program overstrains the system and our power generator self-destructs.”

“I don’t care”, Alex responds. “We don’t have any more time to lose.”

Nia nods: “I’m with Alex.”

Alex stares at her girlfriend, who looks to Eve and then back to her. “We have to be smart about this…”

Alex can’t believe what she is hearing. Maybe it’s the lack of sleep or the constant stress she has been under for the last week, but hearing Kelly side with Eve makes her clench her hands into fists.

“Smart about what?”

Kara, J’onn and M’gann enter the laboratory, carrying enough food to feed an entire army.

“Eve got the program to work”, Alex answers.

Kara’s eyes light up. She superspeeds to the computer. “Have you located Brainy?”

Eve shakes her head: “It still has a failure rate of 7%. And if it fails, we won’t be able to try again in time to save your friend.”

J’onn stops next to Alex. “How long would it take to minimize the failure rate?”

“24 hours, give or take”, Eve replies.

“We don’t have that kind of time”, Kara decides. This time Kelly doesn’t object. “Brainy doesn’t have another day and without him, we can’t find Lena and stop Lex. Dreamer, are you up to it?”

Nia nods. Her fatigue and hopelessness had vanished at the first mention of a way to save her Brainy. Eve silently shakes her head, but she knows that she is outvoted. Nia sits down on the floor, crosses her legs and looks up at Eve. The others take a step back.

“Ready, Dreamer?”, Kara asks. The hero nods. “What about you, Eve?”

“I guess I have to be.” She turns towards the computer.

Everyone else looks at Kara. No. They look at Supergirl, waiting for her to ignite the hope that had been starting to pile inside every single one of them.

“Everyone get ready, as soon as we have Brainy’s location, J’onn, M’gann and I will bring him here. Kelly, Alex, Eve, be prepared to treat any kind of injuries Dreamer has described.”

Alex nods: “We’ll be ready.”

“Good.” Supergirl looks at every team member, before nodding towards Nia. “Let’s get our friends back.”

“I have to admit”, Lena says after seeing almost every room in the building. “I’m impressed.”

Lex raises an eyebrow: “You always underestimated me.”

Lena rolls her eyes: “Not that you were able to build all of this from nothing. I know very well what you are capable of, brother, but that you managed to keep it a secret from everyone else. Usually, you would have gloated about it the first day it opened its doors. You are a world-wide adored Philanthropist after all.”

She side-eyes him. He doesn’t seem to be impressed by her taunting.

_Told you so. He is not the villain in this story._

“Some things are too important to reveal to the public until they are finished”, Lex replies and opens a big wing door. “Welcome to the think tank.”

Behind the door lies the biggest laboratory Lena has ever seen. And that is saying something. Dozens of scientists swarm around, discussing test results, carefully transport samples or are completely emerged in the information on their computer screens.

Lex doesn’t give her any time to take it all in and strides along the room, looking the scientists over the shoulder. Most of them quickly answer his questions and then leave to prepare another task, while others try to avoid him completely.

Lena doesn’t blame them. Her brother can be intimidating at times.

_So can you. They are afraid of what you and your brother can do._

When Lena finally catches up to her brother, she can feel the looks of the scientists on her. She stands up a little straighter. Let them stare. She looks around. Her eyes catch on a diagram displayed on one of the screens. Lena stops dead in her tracks.

“You are studying the X-compound!”, she exclaims. To her dismay, she realizes that she wasn’t able to cover the surprise in her voice.

Lex nods.

“But you said-“

“I said that we have no way of clearing your system. That does not mean that we are not already studying it.”

Lena frowns. If Lex had already been researching the compound before she had gotten here… “I am not the first, am I?”

She looks into her brother’s eyes. The edge of his mouth twitches into something that Lena recognizes as a smile. “I had feared the compound might have taken its toll on you, but I see now that your noggin is still intact. Good. Because we need it.”

He leads her to a door at the far end of the room. Lex places his hand on a scanner. After a few seconds, the door slides to the side and opens up to another, much smaller laboratory. It harbors the same machines and computers as the other. But the arrangement is different. Lena would have known this arrangement anywhere. This is Lex’s private lab. The door silently closes behind them.

“You like it?”

The familiar arrangement brings back sudden memories of how Lena would steal down into Lex’s lab as a child. Whenever he was on a school trip, she would spend hours down there, at times even slipping out of bed to invent something that she could show her big brother once he came back.

More often than not he taunted her experiments or simply listed all the things she should have done differently. But from time to time, he would look at her invention and simply nod approvingly with the tiniest smile on his face. Lena lived for those moments.

“It’s-“, she hesitates. Then a small grin creeps onto her lips: “You are a sentimental bastard, you know that?”

“You keep reminding me”, he sighs. “But back to what’s important.”

She walks over to him and stares at the mountain of papers on one of the desks. It doesn’t take much more than a glance for Lena to know that this is all of Lex’s research. Carefully written out by hand and impossible to trace.

Lena raises an eyebrow, trying to not let her admiration of his dedication take over her mind. She grabs one of the files and flips through the pages. “Is there a short version?”

Lex leans against the desk. “The compound is alien, but it shows some similarities with earth elements. It targets the weakest spot in the human mind.”

“Memories.”

“Precisely. Somehow it enables Supergirl to control how people remember a certain event or even forget about it completely.”

Lena bites her lip: “A truly magnificent weapon.” Something a Luthor could have come up with. That Supergirl, too, resorts to such means sends a shiver down Lena’s spine.

Lex nods: “We already found a dozen other people who have been affected by the compound, but the time it took for them to come back to reality varied greatly. And we fear that there are many, many more. Supergirl must have found a way to broadcast the substance. Control as many people as possible.”

Something in Lena stirs. She knows that Lex is telling the truth, but it’s still hard for her to imagine Supergirl do all of this. Would she be able to? Definitely. Would she really go through with it? Lena isn’t sure.

On the other hand, she had thought that Supergirl would never use Myriad and yet she saw it with her own eyes. Thanks to Lex.

Lena takes a deep breath: “What do you need me to do?”

“I’m going to be upfront with you”, Lex says. “It’s a risk to let you in on this. We don’t know how long it will take for the compound to completely leave your system and as long as there is even the tiniest trace of it, Supergirl might still be able to get to you. But the truth is, we need another pair of Luthor eyes on this. Do you feel up for that?”

The raw honesty in his words reminds Lena of simpler times. When all they had to be was brother and sister. When they didn’t have to pick a side. When they could just work with each other. Maybe this is their chance to do just that again.

Lena nods.

“Good.” He points towards the door. “You will get through the scanner without a problem. It scans for Luthor DNA.” Lena, who had already gathered that much, simply nods. “I’ll make sure someone checks in on you every 30 minutes to get anything for you or help you through another episode.”

Lena raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms. Lex raises his hands in defence: “I know you prefer to work alone. It’s just to make sure that your remote works and the collar does its job.”

He is sugarcoating every word and Lena knows it.

But after almost a year of Kara and her squaring off, she clings to every syllable. Supergirl had taken her trust with force and lies.

This could become a real partnership.

“Fine.”

Lex smiles and walks towards the door: “I’ll get coffee. This is going to be a long night.”

Lena turns back to the papers in her hand and sits down on the ground, her legs crossed, her back comfortable leaned against the wall.

Lex is barely gone two minutes when Lena’s head starts to whirl. No. Not again. She reaches for the remote control, but she is not fast enough. Everything around her ascends into darkness.

_“You are the villain in this story.” The way he says it sends a shiver down Lena’s spine. He doesn’t seem to be angry. But Lena knows he is. And when that anger surfaces, she doesn’t want to be anywhere near him._

_She clears her throat. “You are a man of peace”, Lena tries to remind him, backing away slowly._

_“I am no man.” His eyes start to glow red, as his body transforms. “I am the Martian Manhunter. And I protect the people on this earth.”_

_“I was only trying to-“_

_“You used Myriad! A weapon so dangerous that it had to be locked away in the fortress. So that no one could ever use it again. But you...” She squirms under the intensity of his gaze. Lena takes another step back. Her heel hits the wall._

_“I only wanted to protect this world!”, she calls out desperately. “Through Myriad I could have taken away people’s fear and pain. Hate would have been eradicated. It would have been peaceful. Isn’t that the world you want to see as well?”_

_He takes a big step towards her. The floor vibrates. Lena watches him closely, her hand running along her belt to the small knife that she keeps for emergencies. And this just might be one of them._

_“But not at any cost”, J’onn returns. “Not by taking away people’s free will.”_

_“I would never have done that!”, Lena tries to explain, still hoping that she might get out of this without a fight. “Everyone would be the same, only their hate would have been gone.”_

_J’onn stops so close to her, that she can feel his breath on her cheek. Before Lena can say anything, he has placed his hand on her shoulder, pressing her painfully against the wall. Lena’s fingers find the knife and pull it out of the sheath._

_Staring at J’onn she realizes that it’s not a knife that she’s holding in her hands. It’s a small remote control._

_“You will suffer the consequences of becoming an enemy of earth.”_

_He rears back. “No!”, Lena screams and presses the button._

The electric shock is so strong that Lena falls to the side. Her temple hits the floor, but the pain is nothing more than a numb feeling. For minutes on end, she can’t move and just stares towards the closed door.

J’onn had always protected the earth, that’s why he’s here. Why had Lena ever believed, that he would not hunt her down after trying to use Myriad? She curses her own naiveté and slowly sits up.

Of course, Supergirl would have made her forget that her _friend_ had hurt her. Of course, she would have made sure that Lena would never remember that incident. 

The question remains: How was she able to choose exactly which memory she wanted to erase? Lena leans against the wall again and closes her eyes.

The human brain is in large parts still a mystery to scientists. At least on earth. Maybe Supergirl has access to some kind of alien technology that allows her to target exactly the part of the brain that she wants to control. But even then, how is she able to control a compound already out of her reach?

Suddenly it hits her. You don’t. The compound itself has to do the work selectively. 

Lena stands up and staggers towards one of the computers. Her hands are still shaking. It takes all her concentration to type in the words she needs to get out of her head. This is genius. A plan that could never fail. 

At least as long as you don’t have a Luthor on your heels.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time is running out - the fight has only just begun.  
> I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D  
> As always, let me know what you think <3

Lena is still typing, when Lex walks back in, two cups of coffee in his hands. When he sees his sister furiously typing on the computer, he immediately puts the cups aside and walks over.

“What did you discover?”

Under different circumstances, Lena would have heard the surprise and irritation in Lex’s voice. And maybe she would have paused to investigate this reaction further. But not at this moment. Her whole focus lies on the graphics on the screen.

“Supergirl somehow had to control which memories will be deleted, right?”

Lex places his hands on the table next to the keyboard and simply nods.

“Wrong”, Lena answers her own question, taking a tiny bit of satisfaction from the fact that for once she knows more than her brother. She quickly continues: “She simply had to make sure, that the compound only targets a certain type of memories to begin with.”

She points at the graphic that shows what the compound looks like on a molecular basis. “These particles share similarities with elements from the periodic table because they are supposed to imitate earth atoms! They trick the body into undertaking actions that it usually wouldn’t have.”

“Like erasing memories”, Lex finishes her thought.

Lena nods: “Like erasing memories. But if it did only that, the subject would have been left without any memories. The brain would have just deleted everything. That wouldn’t have been of any use to Supergirl. Now, look at this.”

She rotates the graphic, exposing a new part of the molecule. “This part of the molecule would be unnecessary, wouldn’t it?”

This is when Lex catches on: “Not if this is the part that prevents a deletion of all memories.”

“Exactly!”, Lena exclaims. “This must be the part that somehow selects which memories are deleted or altered.” Lena halts and frowns. “But how would it alter the memories?”

She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

“It doesn’t have to”, Lex answers her question and motions her to give him more space. She takes a step to her left and watches as Lex pulls a certain file from the desk and opens it. He places it on the table for both of them to see.

“Our brain puzzles information together all the time. The tiniest spot of light can lead to a whole chain of calculations that lead to a complete picture.”

“Like the blind spot in our eyes. Our brain takes all the information around it and calculates what the blind spot must look like.”

Lex doesn’t seem to listen to her. He is completely emerged in his thoughts. Fascinated Lena watches, as everything comes together: “This compound targets memories-“

Lena shakes her head: “No! It specifically targets negative memories that connect to Supergirl.”

“-right. And then it cuts out all the negative parts of the memory, leaving only the framework of what used to be there.”

That’s when Lena understands what her brother is thinking. “And our brain fills in the holes with positive feelings, rather than whole pictures because the compound imitates the structure of a positive memory.”

Lena stares at Lex in disbelief of her own words. That is genius. And something that even she could never have hoped to archive. Lex must be thinking the same thing because he slams his fist on the table. The keyboard almost falls off the edge from the sudden vibration.

“All she had to do was to bring the compound in contact with her victim. That’s it. THAT’S IT!”

His anger wakes a deep-rooted fear in Lena. Still, she takes a step towards him. “But we have figured it out, Lex. That means we can take countermeasures. We can prepare a molecule that targets the parts of the compound that don’t have the same structure as earth elements. We can work on making it widely distributable without anyone ever knowing. We can break Supergirl’s control over people without ever having to face her.”

Eve had told them that it would take a few minutes for Dreamer to focus enough energy on the projection so that she could trace it, but every passing second feels like hours.

Kara, J’onn and M’gann are ready to fly wherever their friend might be. Alex and Kelly have prepared a bed and every instrument and medication they might need to save Brainy’s life. Now all they can do is wait. And after ten days of waiting, that proves to be an almost impossible task. The tension in the room keeps growing. Just when Alex wants to turn to Eve, the blonde says: “I have her signature!”

All eyes focus on Eve, as she types in some last instructions.

“Is it working?”, Kelly asks.

Eve nods: “So far it does. It’s still tracking… I’ve got it! These are the coordinates.”

Kara looks over Eve’s shoulder, as does Alex.

The older sister frowns: “This can’t be right… these coordinates…”

“Alex!”, Kara interrupts. “Where is it?”

“In the earth’s atmosphere.”

J’onn is the first one to make sense of her words: “It’s a spaceship?”

“That’s why we couldn’t find any trace of him!”, Kara exclaims. “Let’s go!”

From one second to the next, the three heroes vanish. Alex races to the medical bed and puts on a pair of gloves, while Kelly kneels down next to Nia.

“Dreamer, wake up.” Nia comes back with a start, grabbing Kelly’s arm tightly until she fully realizes what’s going on.

“Did it work?”

Before anyone can answer, Kara rushes in, Brainy in her arms, and places him on the medical bed. J’onn and M’gann are right behind her.

“Brainy!”

Nia jumps to her feet and would have fallen, had Kelly not caught her. Together they make their way to the bed, where Nia immediately places her hands on Brainy’s.

“Brainy, can you hear me?”, Alex asks over and over again, while connecting him with all sorts of sensors and screens that start to beep vividly. But Brainy does not react at all. 

Eve carefully takes some of his blood and begins to analyze it, while Alex continues to check his vitals.

“Is he going to be ok?”, Nia asks with tears in her eyes.

Alex doesn’t seem to hear her. Kelly puts an arm around the young hero and whispers: “Let them work. They’ll do everything they can to find out what’s wrong with him.”

“Alex!”, Eve calls out. “You have to take a look at this.”

While everyone else gathers around the bed, Alex turns to Eve. She frowns.

“That’s impossible. He may be alien, but such a small amount of blood cells usually only appears in-“ She stops, her mind racing.

Eve understands without another word.

“Get away from him!”, Eve calls out. Alex is by her side immediately and together they manage to get the heroes to take a step back. With joined efforts, they push the bed and the monitors attached to Brainy into one of the areas that can be closed off from the rest of the lab. Nia still holds on to Brainy’s hand.

“Everyone out of this area!”, Eve says, but Nia doesn’t react.

Alex grabs her by the shoulders and forcefully pulls her away from Brainy.

“Let go of me!”, Nia screams, but as soon as they cross the line on the ground, Eve activates the force field. They are effectively locked out.

“What are you doing?”, Kara wants to know. Nia frees herself from Alex’s grip and tries to get back to Brainy. The force field prevents her from getting even one step closer.

“Alex!”, Kelly calls out and commands everyone’s attention. “What is going on?” Now everyone looks to Alex, who has to take a few deep breaths to get her thoughts in order.

“Brainy has been in contact with strong nuclear radiation. His blood cells have been degenerating for quite some time. You should be fine, you weren’t there for long. I don’t have time to explain all of this right now. Eve and I need to find radiation suits and determine what we can do for Brainy.”

Kara pulls her sister aside and whispers: “Can you wake him up? If he has any information on Lena’s whereabouts, we need to-“

Alex places her hands on Kara’s shoulders. “I know that you love her, Kara, but right now we have to focus on saving Brainy’s life. If he has been exposed to this radiation for ten days straight, it is very likely that all we can do is mitigating his pain.”

“He could be the only person who can tell us where Lena is!”

“I’ll do what I can, Kara, but I can’t promise anything.”

With these words, she turns around and leaves Kara alone with her thoughts. The hero watches as her sister and Eve vanish into another room.

How can she talk like that? Brainy is here, Brainy is safe, and now they can take every measure possible to help him heal again. Lena on the other hand…

Kara shakes her head. She doesn’t even want to think about what Lena must be going through. Lex has taken her for a reason and that reason can’t be anything good, that’s for sure.

She turns around and walks towards the elevator.

“Kara!”, J’onn calls after her. “Where are you going?”

“What all of you seem to have forgotten!”, Kara yells and spins around. “Looking for the part of this team that is still missing!”

Without waiting for any response, Kara storms into the elevator. The doors close before anyone else can say anything. Kara closes her eyes, listening.

_“I need to go after her. Who knows what she could blunder into in this state.”_

That’s J’onn. But Kara doesn’t hear anything suggesting that he is following her. Something is holding him back.

_“She needs some time to think.”_ No, not something. Someone. M’gann seems to understand completely, what Kara intends to do. _“She is deeply hurt. Lena is still out there. All we can do to help Kara is to make sure, that we find Lena as soon as possible.”_

_“J’onn!”_ Alex is back. _“Where is Kara?”_

J’onn explains what has happened, but Kara doesn’t feel guilty. If the others won’t fight with her, she’ll fight alone. She has done that before.

_“She just needs some time.”_ It sounds as if Alex tries to convince herself more than anyone else. _“We need to focus on our tasks ahead. To heal Brainy we need to know exactly what you found up there.”_

Not a lot. The spaceship was empty, save for Brainy. They had left it in the earth’s orbit to take care of it later. There are more pressing issues at hand.

Kara opens her eyes again. The elevator door opens and she rushes outside, jumping into the sky as soon as it opens up above her. 

She hovers over the city, the cold wind rushing through her hair, and listens to every noise that sounds even remotely familiar.

“Come on”, she whispers and presses her eyes shut. “Come on, Lena.”

She hears sirens over sirens, snippets of conversations about nothing important, cars honking, people laughing as if the world was not being ripped apart by the seams.

As if this was just another normal night.

“Lena, please!”, Kara screams, knowing full well that up here no one would be able to hear her. “You need to give me a sign! Anything! Please!”

Tears stream down her face, but she doesn’t wipe them away. For once she needs to let it all out, without worrying about the impact that could have on others. They see her as the girl of steel. The protector of National City. The hopeful one in every situation.

But with every tear falling from her face, Kara feels more like a powerless human. Unable to move forward, unable to go back. And unable to do anything else than wait.

“Please… just give me a sign…”

For the next few hours, Lex drops in and out of the lab. He doesn’t talk much and barely listens to a word Lena says.

Despite seeing the blood results and making sense of everything, Lena is still tense around Lex. Often she doesn’t even realize until he leaves her alone and she unclenches her jaw or loosens her fists. As if something deep inside her still believes the hallucinations she has had.

_You need to remember who you can trust!_

Yes. Her brother. And her mother. Her mind. Especially, her mind. 

So she throws herself into the research, barely stopping to eat or sleep. 

And the longer Lena stares at the molecule, the more she realizes that something is wrong. It does alter memories, there is no doubt in her mind about it. But does it really work the way Lex had told her?

_Stop this. You are going crazy. You should sleep._

Lowering the concentration of the compound in her blood would undoubtedly have a severe effect on her. But would it also mean that the true memories would resurface? Lena slowly shakes her head. That is impossible. If the compound alters memories, then that would have to be permanent.

She looks a little closer. She can see the similarities to earth elements. But where exactly are the alien parts of this molecule? It sure doesn’t look like anything Lena had ever seen before, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be synthesized on earth.

Lena moves the computer mouse and cuts out a few parts of the molecule. She pulls it apart at the seams. Sometimes that is the only way to find out what’s really going on. You have to break it down into its most elemental stage.

And the more Lena pulls it apart, the more she realizes that this compound is not as strange as it had seemed. She identifies atom by atom until there is no doubt that every single part of this molecule is an earth atom. This compound is not alien.

And it never has been.

“No”, Lena whispers and has to take a few steps backwards.

She had seen Alex trying to kill her. Brainy telling her that she is just like her brother. And J’onn attacking her to protect the earth.

But there was not one single memory of Supergirl. Not one memory that had been changed, in which Supergirl attacks or hurts her. 

Why is that?

If Supergirl really is this monster, why would she have never attacked her? It makes no sense. Lena stares at a point in front of her that only she can see.

Because some memories are protected more securely than others. Some memories are so important to one’s self, that changing them would mean to throw the brain completely off balance. And that would not only destroy the memory but the person as well.

And you can’t have that when you are trying to control someone else.

With two big steps, Lena is back at the computer and examines the structure of the compound again. This molecule wouldn’t alter anything. It is simply a decoy. Something to keep her occupied, while her brother uses her as a walking guinea pig.

Carefully she touches the collar and the small lock on the right side of her neck. Just underneath the leather, Lena can feel a tiny piece of metal. Almost like a needle.

So simple, yet so powerful.

He must have used some kind of modified hallucination drug. Something to feed her good memories of the past and conjure up her deepest fear, turning friends into enemies. He had archived what Lena could have never dreamed of. A serum to make hallucinations seem like true memories.

But it’s not the compound X. It’s the collar.

While Lena was chasing his red herring, Lex had had enough time to witness firsthand what his drug does and how the subject reacts to it. With episodes of wrong memories, forcing them to relive moments that have never happened. Breaking them down and then building them up again with good memories. No. None of them were memories. They were all drug-induced hallucinations.

Lena has to grab the edge of the table to stay upright.

He has been using her. Again.

But this time he made sure that she could not decide to leave. He drugged her and created an illusion around her so perfect, that she would never want to leave. Giving her a war to fight and companions to protect. If it weren’t so horrific, Lena would be impressed. This is a new level, even for Lex.

And she might have just given him the idea by working on non nocere. Lena scolds herself to focus.

What is his endgame? And more importantly: How can she stop him?


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dominoes start to topple...  
> I hope you enjoy this new chapter <3  
> As always, share or leave a comment :D

With a sigh, Alex leaves the shielded area and removes the protective helmet. Despite not remembering ever working with Lena in this lab, Eve was the one who had found the radiation suits. They were designed to withstand even massive amounts of radiation and Alex couldn’t avoid imagining what kind of dangerous experiments Lena had conducted down here.

“How is he?”, Nia immediately wants to know.

“The radiation must have been incredibly high. And he was exposed to it for almost ten days. His blood cells have started to degenerate. We’re trying to keep him alive with blood transfusions, but that can only get us so far.”

Nia’s eyes wander between Brainy and Alex. “What are you saying?”

Kelly embraces Alex from behind and answers for her: “Radiation poisoning is incredibly dangerous and almost impossible to heal. That he is not completely human is most likely the only reason he is still alive.”

These words hit Nia like a punch in the stomach. She stumbles backwards, as tears fill her eyes. “He’s going to die?”

“We’re doing all we can to prevent that from happening. But we can’t make any promises.”

Nia collapses to the ground. Immediately J’onn is with her and helps her up, hugging her tightly. The young hero holds onto him like a drowning person. Her tears fall on his suit, but neither of them cares. Alex turns to Kelly, pulling her into an embrace.

Forgotten are the sour looks she had thrown at her girlfriend only a few hours ago.

“I love you”, Alex whispers just loud enough for Kelly to hear.

“I love you too.”

They fall silent. The only sounds echoing through the lab are the noises from the machines attached to Brainy. Somehow these beeps manage to calm everyone down. As long as they continue, Brainy is alive.

Suddenly the sound is accompanied by someone’s steps. Everyone turns to Supergirl. Her eyes are still red, but no one can tell whether that derives from the cold wind or actual tears. Seeing Brainy still motionless on the bed and Eve and Alex in their radiation suits tells her everything she needs to know.

“No changes?”

Eve shakes her head: “We do everything we can, but without a way to extract the radiation from his body, there is not much we can do.”

Nia flinches at her words and buries her head even deeper in J’onn’s shoulder. He strokes her back, but that doesn’t seem to calm her. On the other hand – in this very moment, there is nothing that could calm her.

Seeing the one man she has ever truly loved like this… the pain is excruciating. 

Kara bites her lip. To not have to look at anyone else, she lets her glance wander through the lab. It looks the way it always does. Everything sorted and labelled in an orderly fashion, instruments neatly stacked in the drawers. 

To think that just a few days ago Lena had been right here, close enough to touch, close enough to finally be told the whole truth, breaks Kara inside. She should have said something. If she could only turn back time. Back to when Lena was building her Anti-Kryptonite suit and told her to-

“That’s it!”, Kara exclaims.

“What?”, M’gann asks surprised.

Kara turns to Eve: “If I could give you a suit that can already filter certain substances out of someone’s body, would you be able to build another one for Brainy?”

“Supergirl, what are you even-“

Kara silences her sister with a simple hand motion, her eyes still fixated on Eve. The scientist slowly nods: “If the technology used in that suit is replicable, yes.”

Without explaining herself to the others, Kara superspeeds to one of the safes that contain Lena’s finished inventions. Her fingers close around the side of the door and rip it open. An alarm blares through the lab. 

“Seriously, what are you doing?”, Alex yells over the alarm, as Kara pushes a small object into Eve’s hands. “Can anyone dismantle this alarm?”

Eve turns to the computer and within a few seconds, the alarm stops.

Everyone relaxes a bit. “Thank you”, Kelly says, but Eve isn’t listening. She is staring at the object that Supergirl had just given her.

It takes Alex a few moments to realize what it is.

“Your Anti-Kryptonite suit.”

Kara nods: “If it can filter the Kryptonite out of my system, it should be able to filter the radiation out of Brainy’s body, right?”

Alex almost pushes her sister out of the way, as she joins Eve in her efforts to figure out how this could work. Kelly softly pulls Kara to the side, giving the two scientists enough space to organize their thoughts.

“I know that you are hurting right now”, Kelly whispers. “But you should know that you just ignited a spark of hope in every single person in this room.”

Kara manages to produce a small smile: “Thank you.”

But within she wonders, how much that is worth when there is no one to ignite the smallest spark of hope in herself.

It doesn’t take half as long as anyone had expected. Alex and Eve work side by side as if they never did anything else.

Using Lena’s technology, they rebuild the part that filters the Kryptonite and repurpose it. It turns out that this endeavor is much easier when the system filters for an earth substance instead of an alien one.

“There we go”, Alex finally says and carefully picks up the remodeled machine.

M’gann frowns: “Don’t you need a suit?”

Eve shakes her head: “This machine should be strong enough to filter not only Brainy’s system but also the whole area, making it possible to decontaminate the lab, without trapping him in a suit.”

The heroes watch, as Alex closes up her radiation suit once more. Kelly gives her a small kiss, before helping her to put on the protective helmet. She closes the suit at her back and pats her girlfriend on the shoulder, to signal that everything is ready.

Alex steps into the small area that functions as an airlock, then she enters the enclosed area. With shaking fingers she places the small machine on Brainy’s chest.

And as she activates the filter, she silently pleads: “Please, bring him back to us.”

Lena’s first instinct is to search for something to help her get rid of the collar. But she stops herself. She has to be smart about this. The longer Lex doesn’t know that she figured out he was the one who was manipulating her, the longer she has to come up with a plan.

She takes a deep breath. First things first. 

As inconspicuous as possible, she walks over to where Lex had left her a cup of coffee. She leans against the desk and tilts the cup as if she were drinking. In reality, she makes sure that the liquid doesn’t even touch her lips. If he injects her with a hallucinogenic drug, who knows what he might put into her coffee.

While faking a coffee break, Lena looks around. There are no obvious cameras in the lab, but she doesn’t put it past Lex that there are some hidden ones. Since she can’t figure out, if that is the truth from here anyway, Lena decides to take the high road.

She walks back to the computer and cheats her way into the security system. It is designed to keep other people out, not to prevent people who are already in the building from using it. Lena works fast and within minutes she has flipped through all camera feeds that the security system gives her access to. There are none in the lab.

The first good news in all of this.

Now: How can she get rid of the collar without the key? Her fingers run along the soft material and stop at the small box that contains the battery as well as the drug. If she could get it off somehow… Her fingers claw at it but to no avail. She tries to get her fingers in between the collar and the box. That only results in her gagging, as the collar presses onto her throat. 

She takes a few seconds to calm down. The collar feels soft. Maybe she can cut through it somehow. 

Lena goes through almost every drawer until she finally finds pliers that are small enough to fit under the material. She sits down on one of the office chairs. With steady hands, she presses the cold metal against her skin and guides it under the collar.

It tightens and makes it hard for Lena to breathe, but she doesn’t pull back and instead presses down on the material. The pliers keep closing. And then they stop. And no matter how hard Lena presses down, she can’t get the pliers to close completely.

After minutes of trying over and over again, she finally gives up.

“Damn it!”, Lena screams and throws the pliers onto the desk. She touches the collar where the pliers had been positioned. The collar hadn’t given in at all. Whatever material Lex has used, it is designed to be unbreakable. Without the key, there is no way Lena can get out of it.

Her lips quiver as she tries to focus. Maybe she can’t get rid of the collar, but she should at least be able to prevent it from emitting any more of the drug. She looks around. Her eyes lock onto a tray with all sorts of tools for different experiments. Among them a cork, that is typically used to close off test tubes.

Lena rushes over and breaks off a part of the material. It takes her a few tries until she has the right size.

Then she carefully pushes the piece of cork under the collar, effectively blocking the needle from infusing any more of the drug into her system. That should prevent her from having any more episodes. Lena just hopes that there will be no withdrawal symptoms. 

“Is everything alright in here?”, Lex asks.

Lena spins around. How long has he been standing there? 

She raises an eyebrow: “Why wouldn’t it be?”

Lena crosses her arms in front of her chest and leans against the desk, to block Lex from seeing the pliers and the pulled apart cork.

“Some of the scientists reported screaming from in here. We were scared you were having another episode.”

“No, everything is fine”, Lena lies.

Her brother scoffs: “You are a terrible liar.”

“You know me too well.” Lena fakes a smile. “It’s just a lot to take in, you know? I’m still trying to understand why Supergirl would use me like that.”

Lex’s features harden: “Because she is the villain in this story, Lena. She knows how brilliant you are and did everything in her power to prevent you from ripping her mask off.”

Lena starts to panic when he walks over to her. This is not good. If he sees the chaos she has made, he will see right through her. 

“Lex, I think-“

“Lex!”

Suddenly the door slides open to reveal Lillian. She is out of breath, which is more than unusual for her. Lex seems to think the same thing because he asks: “How bad is it?”

Lillian just gestures him to follow her. 

“Hold that thought, Lena, I’ll be right back.” With these words Lex storms out, following Lillian through the other laboratory. Lena looks after them until the door closes. 

Immediately she turns around and throws all the evidence for her escape attempt into one of the drawers. 

She won’t be able to deceive Lex much longer. Maybe it is because of the drug, or maybe Lena is just too burned out, but she can’t play the part as well as she needs to.

So she needs a different plan.

Somehow she has to get a message to Supergirl. Lena walks back to the computer and quickly realizes that it is not connected to any outside network. Of course not. She pauses.

Lex has told her that the whole building was soundproofed. She starts to type again. Maybe he meant that every wall has been manually modified. Or maybe he meant that something else is preventing the sound from getting out.

There are the security cameras, the scanners on some doors and- “Yes!”, Lena whispers, as she finds exactly what she has been looking for.

Of course, Lex wouldn’t soundproof every wall manually. Why should he? He has the technology to make this building invisible in a very different way. Just as he had once protected his mansion.

That’s why the team wasn’t able to find him. This place doesn’t exist.

“But not for very much longer”, Lena murmurs. She looks around. Lex is still gone and judging from the look Lillian had given him, he wouldn’t come back for at least another few minutes. Good. Because Lena needs to find a way to alert Kara. The signal has to be unmistakable.

The fire alarm.

The lever is right next to one of the desks, perfectly within reach. She just needs something to break the glass. Lena opens the drawer that she had thrown everything in just minutes ago and pulls out the pliers. Perfect.

Placing the pliers directly next to the keyboard, Lena starts to type again. Turning off the diversion around the building will likely trigger some kind of alarm. But Lex will go to many different places before he comes here. Because why would his trusted guinea pig betray him?

“Please let this work”, Lena silently prays, as she deactivates the protective measures around the building, one hand resting on the pliers. No alarm blares. No one starts screaming. Everything remains silent.

Now or never. 

Lena grabs the pliers a little tighter, as she walks up to the fire alarm. She knows that it is not connected to a fire department or an emergency center. It probably only triggers an acoustic signal and the sprinkler system if there is one. But that is more than enough.

Lena doesn’t need firemen. She needs Supergirl.

Standing directly in front of the small alarm lever behind a glass pane, Lena turns around one last time. As soon as she presses the button, there is no going back.

_Stop this madness! You know who you can trust!_

Lena doesn’t hesitate any longer. She shatters the glass with the pliers and lets them fall together with the shards. With shaking fingers she reaches for the lever. Lena takes a deep breath. Then she presses it down, lifts it almost immediately, only to press it down again a split second later. That’s how she continues. Over and over again.

Long short long. Short long. Short long short. Short long. 

Kara.

Short short short. Short long. Short short short long. Short. Long long. Short. 

Save me.

Long short long. Short long. Short long short. Short long.

Come on, Kara!

Long short long. Short long. Short long short. Short long.

She is running out of time. She should be finding a hiding spot, or, better yet, an escape route. But Lena continues to press the lever as if her life depends on it. And in a way, it does.

If Kara doesn’t get here before Lex finds out she has been betraying him… Lena doesn’t even want to finish that thought.

“I know you can hear this, Kara”, she whispers. “Please find me.”

Long short long. Short long. Short long short. Short long.

Long short long. Short long. Sho-


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you are ready for an explosive chapter.  
> Brace yourselfs - and enjoy!

The laser blast hits the wall just inches next to Lena’s head. She freezes. She doesn’t have to turn around to know what’s expecting her. So she remains with her face towards the wall.

“That was a mistake, Sis.”

She doesn’t reply. Her hands run down the wall towards the fire alarm. One of the glass shards is still hanging onto the enclosure.

“You really thought I would let you get back into my head, Lex?” She hears him coming towards her. Her fingers wrap around the sharp edges of the shard. Breathing in deeply she holds back a curse. Lex is almost directly behind her. She can feel his breath on her neck. “Unlike you, I learn from my mistakes.”

She spins around and directs the stab at Lex’s neck.

The glass shatters into a million pieces at the first contact with the Lex-O-suit. Some particles pierce through Lena’s skin, but the pain is nothing compared to the one in her wrist as Lex grabs it. He pushes her back with inhuman force and pins her against the wall. It all happens so fast that Lena can’t even think about a way to escape him. 

With her arm pinned above her head, all she can do is stare at the man that had once been her brother. Now his features are only a distorted reflection of who he used to be. Ruined by power.

“Supergirl is already on her way.” Lena captures his eyes with her own. If she can only get him to talk, maybe she can stall him until Kara gets here. “She and the team will destroy you.”

He closes in on her even further, forcing her to press her head against the wall behind her. “There will be no team”, Lex explains. “I am surprised that you haven’t already figured that out.”

“What are you talking about?”

Lex scoffs: “Alarming the team and finding a way to get all of them here would give me more than enough time to kill you.” He increases the pressure on her wrist, just to hear the satisfying as it breaks under his force. This time Lena doesn’t scream. Silent tears run down her cheeks as she refuses to break eye contact with Lex for just one second. “So, no, Supergirl will not alarm the team – or at least she’ll get here with a head start. Allowing me to have some one on one time with her.”

“She isn’t stupid”, Lena presses out in between her teeth. “She knows this could be a trap.”

Lex’s laugh echoes through the room. “I am delighted by your ignorance, sis. Of course, she knows this could be a trap. But she won’t care. You know why that is?” Lena bites her lip. “There are two people in this world she would sacrifice everything else for. Two people, she would even risk flying into a trap for if that meant that she had even the tiniest chance of saving them.”

A loud explosion interrupts Lex. Lena turns her head upwards. She hears screams and the sound of bodies hitting the floor. Supergirl. It has to be.

Lex leans in even further to whisper: “And luckily for me – you are one of these people.”

With a swift motion, Lex turns Lena around and holds her broken wrist behind her back. 

“Now let’s make sure that we can offer our special guest a warm welcome, shall we?”

He pushes her forward and Lena has no choice but to put one foot in front of the other. Her brother directs her through different laboratories, some of which Lena had not set foot in yet. Her eyes travel around, but she can’t find a way to overpower Lex for the life of her.

Above them, Supergirl seems to obliterate any obstacle that’s standing in her way. Lena even smells smoke. Lex doesn’t seem bothered by the fact that Supergirl is destroying his hideout. Or that she is slowly but certainly rendering every last one of his helpers unable to take action. Something is wrong. It’s as if Lex had planned for all of this to happen.

Lena is pushed into another laboratory. But this one is not empty. Lillian and a few other scientists run around the room, typing numbers and codes into the computers, calling out code words to one another.

“You’re late”, Lillian says without looking up from the screen in front of her.

“We’re exactly on time, mother”, Lex returns and shoves Lena over a line painted on the cemented floor. She looks around and realizes that one area of the lab had been marked and contained within a white rectangle. He forces Lena to her knees and shackles her wrists together. A chain connects the handcuffs to the ground and is only long enough for Lena to stand up.

Lex places his hand on her head: “Now be a good pet and play your part.”

“Never!”

“Too bad that you already have.” 

Lena stares at Lex in disbelief. What is going on here? He kneels in front of her. She backs away as far as the shackles allow her to, but Lex catches up within seconds. Lena doesn’t get a chance to say anything. Lex forces a piece of cloth between her teeth and ties it behind her head. It cuts painfully into the corners of her mouth.

“You always make it so deliciously easy for me to archive my goals. It’s almost ironic, isn’t it? That you broke free from my control only to do exactly what I had planned for you. As if there is still a part of you that wants to help me.”

“Enough of this!”, Lillian calls out. “Supergirl is almost here.”

Lex gets up: “Good.” Without even looking back at Lena, he walks over to their mother. “Is everything ready?”

“Of course it is.”

Helplessly Lena has to watch as they exit the room through a hidden door that silently closes behind them, leaving her completely on her own.

Only now she allows herself to cry over the plan that had just shattered like the shard of glass. Carefully she pulls at the shackles, knowing full well that she won’t be able to get rid of them. Tears blind her temporarily, as she looks up towards the door and listens for Supergirl. Fewer and fewer screams can be heard, but they sound closer every time.

Lena wants to scream at Supergirl to stay away, to save herself and find a way to overpower Lex with the team. But all that comes out of her mouth are incomprehensible sounds.

It only takes a few more seconds for Supergirl to appear in the door, fists raised, determined to destroy everyone who dares step foot in her path. Her eyes scan the room. When they fall on Lena, she freezes. Her hands drop to her sides and her mouth falls open.

“Lena!”

Within a fraction of a second, she kneels in front of the dark-haired woman, who shakes her head over and over again.

“It’s ok, I’m here, I got you!”, Kara whispers and reaches around Lena’s head to untie the cloth. As soon as Lena can speak again she calls out: “It’s a trap!“

“I know”, Kara returns. “That’s why we have to get you out of her as fast as possible.”

She grabs her hands. Lena winces as her wrist is moved. Kara immediately stops. “Are you hurt?”

Lena swallows the pain: “I think my wrist is broken.”

Kara softly breathes on Lena’s wrist. The freezing cold eases the pain and for the first time in days, Lena manages to respire.

“Better?”

Lena nods.

“I still have to get these shackles off. This is going to hurt.”

“Ok. Give me a second.”

Lena takes a deep breath. Then she nods. Kara’s hands close around the chains.

Light erupts around them. Along the marks on the ground, the air seems to be ablaze. The light closes above them, forming a dome. Immediately Kara is on her feet and runs her fingers across the invisible walls.

“No”, Lena whispers.

“One after the other”, Kara murmurs, walks back over to Lena and reaches for the chains.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Surprised Lena looks up. Kara spins around. Something is wrong. The collar around Lena’s neck starts to vibrate for a split second. Lex is not holding the remote. Trying to make sense of what’s happening, Lena looks to Kara.

The superhero has planted her feet firmly on the ground and leans forward. The beam of her heat vision hits the invisible wall. Even before it does, Lena’s neck seems to explode.

She screams and tumbles over, the pain eradicating everything else. Even when Kara kneels next to her, trying to figure out what had just happened, Lena is barely able to breathe.

“Lena! Are you alright?”

All she can do is slowly shake her head.

“Can you sit up?”

Kara helps Lena to get into a sitting position. Her whole body is shaking and Kara has to stabilize her to prevent her from collapsing to the ground again.

Lex laughs: “Thank you so much for this delightful demonstration, Supergirl.”

“What did you do?”, Kara screams.

“Me?” Lex grabs his chest as if deeply hurt by what Supergirl is implying. “Why, I didn’t do anything! That was all you, Supergirl. You see, this dome that I have constructed especially for you is powered by your good friend Leviathan.” He gestures towards a machine in the middle of the room that contains a cylinder. An orange light radiates from it. “It was a parting gift from Brainiac-5.”

Kara’s breathing halts for a few seconds, contemplating whether she should confront Lex with the fact that Brainy is still alive. Lena takes her hand and squeezes it, despite being overwhelmed by this horrible news.

Lex carries on unfazed: “Your superpowers have no effect on it whatsoever. But to make sure that you don’t get any ideas, I rigged the collar around Lena’s neck to respond accordingly whenever you decide to make use of your powers.”

Lena stares at the man in disbelief. This is cruel. Even for Lex.

“Why go through all this trouble?”, Kara asks and Lena admires how strong she sounds even when she must be just as scared as Lena herself. “Why don’t you just kill me?”

Lex shrugs his shoulders. “I had planned to do that. But mother had a better idea. Why waste all this power that is harnessed within you, when we can make good use of it? The energy field around you will extract your powers one by one. And just before you can’t take it anymore the sunlight-lamps above you will turn on and make sure that we have an infinite supply of energy. Enough to wipe out every last alien that ever dared to set foot on our earth.”

Kara shakes her head: “The team won’t let you. The other heroes on this earth won’t let you.”

“Don’t worry about them. I have already worked out how to keep the other heroes in check. Let’s just say they won’t be able to set foot into National City until it is too late. And for your team – with your powers, I will be able to obliterate them in seconds. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Lena watches as her brother and mother vanish, the scientists following them right behind. She doesn’t even realize she had started to cry until Kara pulls her into a tight hug. After all this time alone, Lena melts into the embrace.

For minutes they remain motionless, Lena's tears falling onto the Superhero's suit.

They only part when the door opens and closes again. Confused they look up.

“What are you doing?”, Lillian calls out. “We don’t have time for this!”

She furiously starts typing something.

“What’s going on?”, Lena asks. Kara stands up and walks as close to Lillian as she can. “Your daughter asked you a question.”

“What does it look like?”, Lillian returns, her eyes fixated on Lena, who slowly fights herself to her feet. 

Lena frowns: “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you are shutting the force field down.”

Kara’s eyes follow Lena’s. The light radiating from the cylinder containing Leviathan starts to fade ever so slightly.

“Why?”, Lena asks.

Lillian marches over to another computer and starts to type again.

“Mother!”

“Keep it down!”, Lillian scolds her. “I’m not an idiot. I may not have all my memories from before the Crisis, but from what I have pieced together it didn’t end well for me to trust Lex.”

“And yet here you are, helping him”, Kara interrupts.

“Only to protect me, of course. I knew that once you’re dead I wouldn’t have a chance to escape him. So I planted a new idea in his head.”

“You’re crossing your own son.”

“Don’t be so surprised, dear”, Lillian returns while walking over to the machine containing the cylinder. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

Lena has no time to wonder how Lillian knows all of this. Her mother presses a few buttons. The glowing of the force field turns down even more. But it is still strong.

“That’s as far as I can turn it down.” Lillian walks up to the small dome and stops right next to her daughter. After a short glance towards her watch, she whispers: “I wish I could do more. I’m sorry.” Lena stares into her mother’s eyes. That’s when she realizes what all of this means for her.

Lena swallows her fear. “You’ve protected me. And you’ve given Supergirl a chance to escape and fight Lex. I know you’ve done all you can.”

Silently Lena and Kara watch, as Lillian opens the door. Before leaving them, she turns around once more. “I love you, Lena.”

Lena wishes she could take a few more steps towards her. She wishes she had more time. But she knows that wishful thinking will not turn everything right. She takes a deep breath.

Just before the door closes again, Lena says: “I love you too, mother.”

Lena watches as Lillian vanishes and she thinks she sees some tears in her eyes. But who knows, maybe she only saw the tears that are still lingering in her own eyes.

“What did she mean by that?”, Kara demands to know.

“Unimportant”, Lena says, bracing herself for what’s about to happen. “The only important thing is that you get out of here and stop Lex.”

Kara gestures towards the invisible walls around them: “I am always open to suggestions.”

“You need to use your heat vision. If you focus it on one spot you’ll be able to disrupt the system long enough to overload and destroy it.”

“What about you? When I use my power, you get hurt. And there is no telling if I am even able to destroy this force field. If Lex is right and I can’t knock it down, I would hurt you unnecessarily. I won’t do that.”

“The only reason why Lex is doing this is that he knows you’re strong enough to break through the force field. He needed an insurance that you won’t. Me.” Their eyes lock. “But I can’t allow you to stay here when the fate of the world rests on your shoulders. You need to get out of here before Lex gets to the team or starts to destroy the world. I can’t stand in the way of that.”

“No”, Kara says forcefully. “Whatever you’re trying to suggest, it won’t happen.”

“Be reasonable, Kara!”, Lena calls out and takes the blonde's hand. “My life isn’t worth the destruction of this whole planet.”

Tears start to fill Kara’s eyes, reminding Lena once again that while she might look like Supergirl, deep inside she is so much more than that. And so much more vulnerable than she makes the world believe.

She squeezes Lena’s hand softly: “It is to me.”

The words linger in the dome that had become their prison. Then they lean in and their lips connect. Tears of both women mix while they pull each other even closer.

None of them wants to let go. They cling to each other as if they are drowning, fighting for every second, savoring the feelings that rush through their bodies. 

And around them, the world starts to fall apart.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Are Lena and Supergirl going to find a way to escape? And what ace does Lex have up his sleeve for his endgame?

It is Lena who eventually pulls away. She leans her forehead against Kara’s and slowly opens her eyes. “You have to do it now, Kara. We have no time to lose.”

Kara shakes her head: “Not a chance.”

Her fingers move up along Lena’s body until they reach the collar that is hidden under black hair. Lena’s hands shoot up. She grabs Supergirl by the wrist and prevents her from touching the leather.

“Don’t. If you touch it, it will release Kryptonite and you’ll never get out of here.”

“Lex has Kryptonite?”

Lena just nods. Kara sighs: “I will not get out of here without you.”

Lena smiles softly: “I am afraid we don’t have any other choices. Right now Lex gets ready to destroy everything that you have worked to build. Not to mention that he has the power to kill the team as long as you’re in here.”

Kara bites her lip. “But what am I going to do?”

“You’re going to break through the force field with your heat vision and seal the cylinder containing Leviathan. You have to make sure, that no one can ever make use of their power again. And then you will find Lex and help the team to defeat him once and for all. You’ll-” Kara places a finger on Lena’s lips. 

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

Of course, Lena knows. They wait in silence, for a miracle that both women know won’t happen. It is almost as if they can hear a clock ticking, reminding them beat by beat that they’re running out of time.

Kara clears her throat: “At least let me get you out of these shackles.” Lena nods wordlessly.

The blonde grabs the restraints and makes sure that Lena is ready. The heiress nods assuring. As Kara’s muscles start to tense, the collar begins to vibrate.

When she breaks the shackles, a sharp pain erupts in Lena’s neck, giving her a small taste of what is awaiting her, should they go through with the plan. Her vision goes black and she collapses forward. Kara catches her and holds her close until Lena is able to stand on her own feet again.

“Are you ok?”

Lena lets out a shaking breath. “I’m fine. That wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated.”

Kara tilts her head ever so slightly. Lena pulls up one eyebrow as if she doesn’t know that Kara has seen right through her lie. She looks down and carefully examines her wrist. It still hurts, but Kara’s freeze breath had helped to bring it down to a numb feeling that is only mildly inconvenient.

“Lena…”

The woman looks up. Kara has tears in her eyes. She opens her mouth again, but before she can say something, Lena cuts in: “I know that I am asking way too much of you. But we don’t have another choice. And frankly, we’re already out of time. Please, Kara, don’t make this any harder than it needs to be.”

Lena says these words as calmly as she possibly can, hoping that Kara will just accept them. Because she doesn’t know how long she can maintain her strength to defend this decision. Maybe if they had more time – but they don’t.

Suddenly Kara whispers: “Why do you always have to be so heroic?”

Lena closes her eyes and gently leans her forehead against Kara’s. “I had a brilliant teacher.”

Kara just shakes her head. “I’ll get you to the lab. Alex will work something out. I promise.”

Lena nods, her hands trembling. Knowing that getting to the lab only gives her the slightest of chances. Kara closes in and places her lips on Lena’s once again. “I love you”, she whispers. 

“I love you too, Kara.”

They remain for a few more seconds until Lena almost pushes her away. Kara knows that they don’t have any more time to waste. 

Kara looks around: “Maybe it’s best if you lie down, so you don’t hurt yourself should you fall.”

They both know that falling down is far from the worst thing that is going to happen.

“Will you hold me?”, Lena asks.

Immediately Kara pulls her close. Lena wraps her arms around Kara, breathing in the scent of the woman she had loved for so long.

“Ready?”

No. Of course not. 

Lena takes a deep breath. Then she whispers: “Ready.”

The pain overpowers Lena immediately. Tears run down her cheeks and her knuckles turn white as she tries to find some sort of relief by holding Kara close. But there is no release. Her whole body seems to be on fire. At first, she doesn’t even realize she’s screaming. Then everything around her starts to spin. Lena’s scream mixes with Kara’s, who pulls her even closer. Lena’s vision goes to black and it doesn’t take much longer until she collapses into Kara’s arms.

The blonde has to resist the reflex to tend to the woman she loves. Instead, she focusses all her fear and anger on the force field around her that had started to glow red. Lena twitches in her arms as if electricity is running through her.

“NOOOO!”, Kara screams and makes a step towards the invisible wall. “LENA!”

Everything erupts into a red light. Kara falls to her knees, Lena still safe in her arms. The brunette’s body has stopped shaking. Kara closes her tear-filled eyes and focusses on the sound of her heartbeat.

It is slow and irregular.

She has to get her out of here immediately.

_Seal the cylinder containing Leviathan._

Kara’s eyes wander to the machine that has started to make high pitched noises. It is almost as if she can hear Lena calling out to her, to follow the plan, to save the world.

Yet it takes all of Kara’s strength to carefully place Lena on the hard floor and rush to the machine. She rips the cylinder out of its bracket and startles as it starts to vibrate in her hands. At the top, an orange smoke starts to form. That can’t be good.

Kara places her feet firmly on the ground and focusses her heat vision on the top of the cylinder. At first, it seems to have no effect. 

“Come on!”, Kara shouts, focusing on her vision, but still listening to Lena’s irregular heartbeat. Only slowly the smoke vanishes, as the cylinder is sealed. “That should do it.”

She takes a deep breath and freezes the container in her hands for good measure. With a well-placed punch, Kara breaks the machine down to pieces. She isn’t taking any more chances. 

Then she superspeeds back to Lena, who still lies motionless on the ground. Kara scouts her up, holding her close with one arm and clasping the cylinder with the other, as she flies out of the lab.

“Kara!”, Alex calls out. Without looking Kara follows the sound of her voice, racing through the hall that has become a battlefield.

She lands beneath the metal table her sister has found shelter behind and places Lena softly on the ground.

“Oh my god!” Within seconds Alex leans over her friend and listens for her breath.

Kara lays a hand on Alex’s shoulder: “She is badly hurt, her heart is barely beating. We need to get her back to the L-Corp lab immediately! Where is J’onn?”

She lets her eyes wander and sees Dreamer, also crouched behind a flipped table, figuring out how she can get closer to Lex. J’onn and M’gannn take turns flying at Lex in his Lex-o-suit. For the moment it doesn’t look like he is any less powerful. Maybe the suit accumulated the energy given to him by the force field.

“Kara!” Alex has to slap her sister’s arm to get her attention. “We can’t afford to send anyone back to the lab.”

Kara shakes her head: “We have no choice.”

“It would be suicide, Kara. Lex is too powerful, he-“

A body slams into the ground right next to them. Kara spins around just in time to see Lex get back on his feet. Before she can activate her heat vision, he is back in the air. But he takes of shakily. A small grin appears on Kara’s face.

“He’ll get weaker by the second”, she promises Alex. “I destroyed his source of power. You need to get back to the lab and stabilize Lena. And you need to contain this.”

She gestures towards the orange cylinder.

“What is it?”, Alex asks.

“Leviathan. You need to lock it into one of the vaults at L-Corp. I don’t have time to explain this!” Turning around she calls out towards Dreamer: “You need to keep him in check! J’onn, M’gann, come here!”

Immediately Dreamer is on her feet and shoots a ray of blue energy at Lex, freezing him mid-air. M’gann lands next to Alex, J’onn leaning heavily on her.

“Lex got him badly. He can’t carry on like this.”

“Of course I can!”, J’onn returns and straightens up.

“You won’t have to”, Kara says. “You need to take Lena and Alex back to the L-Corp lab. Dreamer, M’gann and I will take care of Lex. Then you have to send the Anti-Kryptonite-suit.”

“I am one step ahead of you”, Alex returns and places the small machine on Kara’s chest. Within seconds the nano-technology covers her whole body and turns into the strongest suit Lena has ever made.

“Thank you.”

“There is still no way I am leaving you here”, Alex says. J’onn nods in agreement.

A scream interrupts them: “I don’t know how much longer I can hold him there!” Dreamer’s face is red from exhaustion. 

“We don’t have time to discuss this!”, Kara calls out. “I trust you to save her, Alex. Please.”

Something in her voice makes Alex perplex. Kara has always been concerned about Lena, but there is something else in her eyes this time. As if she knows that Lena feels the same way. That’s when it sinks in. They talked it out. Knowing that they don’t have much more time, Alex pulls Kara into a tight hug, trying to tell her everything she needs to hear.

“I’ll see you back at L-Corp.”

“I promise”, Kara returns and is already levitating above the table, helping Dreamer to keep Lex at a distance.

Alex helps J’onn to lift Lena up. “Be careful”, J’onn says to M’gann, who nods in agreement, before both of them fly up.

M’gann joins Kara and Dreamer in their efforts and together they manage to push Lex closer and closer to the ground. Kara turns around for a split second to make sure that the others have left the building.

They have, but Kara remains distracted for just a moment too long.

A loud scream escapes Dreamer, as she is catapulted against the wall that crumbles under the impact.

“Dreamer!”, Kara calls out. 

But she gets no response.

“Come on, Lena, stay with me!”, Alex says over and over again, as she quickly establishes a venous line. The monitors around her beep in an unsteady rhythm that doesn’t give her much hope. “What did he do to you?”

Steps close in behind her. Without turning around she calls out: “Eve, I need a saline solution and you need to keep an eye on the ECG. I don’t like that rhythm.”

She looks up at J’onn: “Leviathan?”

“Safely locked away in one of the vaults for now. I need to get back there.”

Alex shakes her head and grabs ahold of his arm: “I need to check that wound.”

“No. You need to save Lena’s life. I’ll be fine.”

“Be careful.”

Without another word, J’onn vanishes and Alex turns back to Lena. Eve hooks the IV to the line and makes sure that there is no air in the tube. Then she turns around and checks the ECG. Alex takes a deep breath. Focus. She walks over and checks Lena’s vitals.

Suddenly something grabs Alex’s wrist. Lena’s fingers cling to Alex’s arm. She can barely keep her eyes open.

“Lena!”, Alex exclaims. Immediately she leans down and shines into her friend’s eyes with a small flashlight. “I need you to stay as still as possible. You’ve been badly hurt. Lex-“

“Kara”, Lena whispers, her grip turning more painful every second.

Alex places her free hand on top of Lena’s in an attempt to calm her. “She makes sure your brother will never hurt anyone else again.”

Lena slowly shakes her head, fighting the darkness that eats away the edges of her field of vision.

“He has kryptonite”, she presses out in between her teeth and tries to sit up.

Alex gently pushes her back down into a lying position: “We know. Kara has your Anti-Kryptonite-Suit. You need to- Lena? Lena!”

Lena’s hand falls to the side. Immediately Alex leans over her and checks her breathing.

“Eve?”

“Her rhythm is steady, the oxygen level is dropping, but not yet critical.”

Kara has no time to check on Dreamer. Lex attacks with all his might, the Kryptonite shooting from his suit. Thankfully Lena’s handy work withstands the blast without a scratch.

Without the extra power, all Lex has left is the Lex-O-Suit, but despite that, he puts up more of a fight than Kara had anticipated.

“I see you have borrowed one of my sister’s inventions”, Lex calls out and dodges M’gann’s attack. “That is hardly fair, now is it?”

Instead of answering, Kara flies directly at Lex. In the last possible moment, he drops to the ground and lands on his feet. “Let’s make this a little more interesting, shall we?” Lex presses some buttons on his watch.

Supergirl doesn’t hesitate any longer. She brings her hands together in front of her body and sends Lex tumbling to the floor. 

He just laughs: “You should hear out for your beloved, Supergirl. I have a feeling she is not doing well.”

Without taking her eyes off Lex, Kara listens for Lena. She freezes in mid-air, as she hears Eve’s voice as clearly as if she were standing right next to her.

_“Something is wrong!”_

_“The rhythm is irregular again! What is causing this?”_ That’s Alex. Kara looks around. M’gann uses the sudden calm to look for Dreamer. Both are so distracted, that Lex has enough time to get back up and tackle M’gann in the air. 

He throws her towards the ground. She barely manages to prevent a hard crash and rolls over the floor. Kara shoots her heat vision at Lex and hits him in the chest. He holds against the pressure, as loud voices ring in Kara’s ears.

_“She is crashing!”_

Kara tries to ignore Eve’s voice. A loud rumbling can be heard as if machines were pushed around.  
_“Open her shirt!”_ Kara intensifies her attack. _“No, wait! Don’t touch her!”_

Alex seems to be worried. What kind of sick game is this?

 _“This is not a normal seizure! Look at the ECG! How can electricity be running through her body?”_ The next time Alex’s voice is heard, it is barely more than a whisper: _“What did Lex do to you, Lena?”_

Kara reels back, starring at Lex, who has a sick grin on his face, as he drops back to the floor. 

“What did you do to her?”, Kara screams and lands in front of him. 

“As I said, Supergirl, I am not doing anything.”

_“The seizure stopped! We need to figure out where the shock was coming from!”_

“You, on the other hand…” He gestures towards his neck. “I told you that Lena’s collar is rigged to respond to you using your powers.”

M’gann gets up behind Kara and hovers over the ground, her foot broken. She takes in a sharp breath as she lands next to Dreamer, who still lies motionless on the floor. Kara shakes her head: “No, I destroyed your machine.”

Lex laughs loudly: “Oh my, did you really think that the collar would only respond when you use your powers within the force field? That’s my bad. Let’s make this clear: The collar responds to whatever I want it to.”

_“There is a box at the collar, Alex, and burns underneath. This must be causing the shocks! But I can’t – I can’t get it off!”_

“Allow me to demonstrate.”

Following his warning, he shoots another kryptonite beam at Supergirl. Instinctively she counters it with her heat vision. The beams meet between them, as the voices grow louder in Kara’s ears.

 _“She is seizing again!”_ Eve’s voice is shaking.

_“It isn’t transmitting! Look, I am still holding onto the collar! How is this possible?”_

_“Can you get it off?”_

_“No! Damn it! What kind of material is this?”_ Something falls to the floor. _“We need to get it off!”_

Eve tries to keep her voice calm: _“But how?”_

Lex ends his attack. Supergirl stumbles backwards, as she tries to make sense of what is happening at the L-Corp lab. Behind Lex, J’onn appears and lands next to M’gann, who helps Dreamer to sit up. A deep cut gapes at her temple.

Kara stares at her hands.

_“Her rhythm?”_

_“Irregular, but steady!”_

_“Make sure the defibrillator is ready. This could turn around any second.”_

“Ready for round two?”, Lex asks but doesn’t wait for an answer. He flies towards the others, who are still focused on Dreamer, who can barely sit upright.

Supergirl assesses the situation within a fraction of a second and superspeeds to her friends. She blocks Lex and throws him against the opposite wall. He crashes to the floor but still manages to direct another kryptonite beam at the team. It hits J’onn and throws him through the wall. Dreamer is buried under the falling rubble. Kara turns to help, but freezes, when she hears Alex’s voice again.

_“Another seizure!”_

_“Alex, she’s not breathing!”_

_“Get the defibrillator, I start with the chest compressions! Come on, Lena, you need to fight! Come on!”_

Kara hears Lena’s rips crack under Alex’s forceful compressions. Lex slowly gets up, but he doesn’t attack. Instead, he looks at his watch, a smug smile on his face.

_“Eve?”_

_“Yes! We have a shockable rhythm! Get back – clear?”_

_“Clear!”_

The sound of the electricity running through Lena, making her whole body spasm, sends a shiver down Kara’s spine.

_“No change!”_

_“Again!”_

_“Clear?”_

_“Clear!”_

This time Kara can’t hold back her tears. Lena’s body slams back onto the bed. Come on, Lena. Come on!

 _“We have a rhythm!”_ Eve’s words zap Kara back into reality. Lex is still just staring at his watch and then back at Kara.

“That was tough”, he says, but his voice is calm. “The rhythm still doesn’t look good, I can tell you that much. Do you think she’ll withstand another round?”

He makes a pause and lets his words unfold in all their horror. “We both know that your comrades can’t fight any longer. So it’s only you and me.”

Kara looks at the others. Lex is right. M’gann only now manages to pull Dreamer out of the rubble again, while J’onn can barely sit up.

“So, Supergirl”, Lex sneers and takes a step towards the hero. “Looks like you have a choice to make.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of the last cliffhangers, I promise.  
> And I am working on finishing the last chapter (and a possible epilogue) right now, to post before Christmas.
> 
> As always, I would love to hear what you think of the story <3


	10. Chapter 10

Time seems to stand still. 

Kara doesn’t move a muscle, as she listens for any changes in the lab. Alex and Eve seem to work in silence, trying to free Lena of her brother’s control. Lex is staring at her, giving his words time to unfold. 

_“I know that you can hear me, Supergirl.”_

Kara jumps. Lex tilts his head but seems to think nothing of it, as he remains silent. This voice does not come from the lab.

Kara has to resist the urge to spin around. It wouldn’t be of use anyway. Lillian isn’t stupid, she wouldn’t walk onto a battlefield. Especially not after betraying her murderous son.

_“I am on your side.”_

Kara doubts that. The only side Lillian is on, is her own. But right now that entails working together with Supergirl. She clenches her fists. 

_“I can free Lena from the collar, but you need to tell me where she is.”_

So that she can get out of reach of her son. Without letting Lex out of sight for too long, Kara turns towards her team. M’gann tends to Dreamer, who isn’t moving. J’onn leans against the broken wall. They need to get back to the lab. Immediately. But there is no way Lex will let her escape. Not when he has the upper hand.

“You’re right”, Kara finally admits, much to her own surprise. “My team can’t fight any longer and neither can Lena.”

She wishes for nothing more than to burn that smug smile off Lex’s face with her heat vision. Lillian doesn’t say another word. Either she can’t hear what’s going on, or she is waiting for Lex to make his next move.

“The girl of steel is seeing sense. That’s a first.”

Kara ignores his words and gestures to her team without breaking eye contact: “You don’t need them. You only need me. Let them go.”

Lex fidgets with his watch and Kara intuitively listens to Lena’s heartbeat. It’s still there. But even Kara can hear that it is slowly fading. She can’t risk another fight. Not when Lena is already weakened.

“You let them go and I’ll stay.”

Lex doesn’t seem convinced. And when he doesn’t say anything, Kara realizes what he is waiting for. So she does what she swore to never do. With shaking fingers she tabs the symbol on her chest. Bit by bit the Kryptonite suit vanishes from her body, only the small container remaining between her fingers.

“You let them go”, Kara exclaims and holds it out in front of her, “and I’ll give you this in return.”

“Kara, no!”, J’onn calls out, but she silences him with a simple hand motion.

Lex grins: “It’s a deal.” 

They all know that he could’ve obliterated the team within seconds, but he is not interested in that. Right now, he is only interested in Supergirl. 

Kara turns to her team. “I need to help them.”

“Make it quick. And just to be clear: If they come back…”

He doesn’t need to finish his sentence. Kara rushes over and helps M’gann to lift Dreamer, who is barely breathing. Then she helps J’onn to his feet and whispers: “Get them back to the L-Corp Lab. And don’t come back until you got rid of the collar around Lena’s neck.”

_“I am on my way.”_

Kara turns around to Lex.

“I am not leaving you here!”, J’onn exclaims behind her.

Lex taps his watch: “Last chance.”

Kara turns to J’onn and pleads: “J’onn, please! Save Dreamer.” _And get Lillian to save Lena._

He still hesitates. Then he nods towards M’gann and the three of them disappear.

“This is useless!”, Alex screams exasperated and throws the pliers across the lab. 

Eve startles and bites her lip. “It must be some sort of special material.”

“Yeah, no shit”, Alex mumbles, while running her fingers along the collar for the hundredth time. Once again she feels the piece of cork that has been shoved under the collar, but she doesn’t remove it. It is stuck on some kind of needle and if Lena didn’t remove it, then it is probably best to leave it. “How are her vitals?”

“Stable, but her heartbeat is still irregular.”

It’s the same thing that Eve has been saying for the last thirty minutes.

A sudden noise snatches their attention. The women spin around. The lab is still empty. But they hear something, almost like a human groan. Eve is the first one to realize what is happening and rushes to the containment area. Alex follows her right behind.

Brainy has sat up on the bed, causing the filtering machine to fall to the ground. But it seems to still be working. 

“Brainy!”, Alex exclaims, relief pulsing through her veins.

It takes Brainy a few moments to understand that he is no longer on the space ship. He looks at his hands and frowns. Slowly he looks up.

He opens his mouth and closes it again without saying a word.

“Take your time!”, Alex says and motions Eve to go back to Lena. There is no room for carelessness. Especially not when another shock could be running through her body at any second. 

“What… what happened?”

Alex sighs: “You worked with Lex Luthor, but then you betrayed him to save us. You stopped Leviathan and almost died in the process.”

“Because of the radiation…”

“Exactly.”

“Alex, she is getting weaker!”

“You need to stay in there, ok?”, Alex pleads, as she runs back to Lena. “The force field will shut down once the radiation is down to an acceptable level.”

Slowly Brainy stands up and shakily walks to the force field. He puts his fingers up against it and tries to see what Alex and Eve are doing.

“Get some Metoprolol ready. I’m worried this is going to turn into ventricular fibrillation.” Eve nods and leaves to acquire the medication.

“What is going on?”, Brainy wants to know.

Alex answers without taking her eyes off the screen that shows Lena’s vitals. “It’s Lena. Lex kidnapped her and forced her to wear this collar. We think it shocks her, but we can’t figure out how or when.”

Brainy looks around. “Where are the others?”

“Fighting Lex. We were all there, but once Kara freed Lena, I had to return to save her. But I just can’t figure out how for the life of me.”

She takes a deep breath. Brainy watches, as she tries to figure out what she could do to save her friend. Eve walks up to Alex and puts three syringes on a metal tray that are labelled with the medication and the concentration.

“As you asked”, Eve says. “And I-“

“We need another bed!” J’onn’s voice comes out of nowhere and is so loud, that Eve startles. Alex looks around.

The heroes appear in the middle of the room. Dreamer hangs in M’gann’s arms, not moving at all. J’onn leans heavily on his girlfriend. 

“Over here!”, Alex calls out and directs them to another bed that stands close to the containment area. M’gann rushes over as fast she can, her foot already almost healed thanks to her martian healing properties. She carefully places the unconscious hero on the bed.

Immediately Alex tilts Dreamer’s head back and listens for her breath. Behind her, Brainy comes closer. When Brainy realizes who has been this gravely injured, he runs as close as he can.

“Where is Supergirl?”, Alex asks, as she checks Dreamer’s body for further injuries.

“Keeping Lex occupied until-“

“Nia!”, Brainy screams, his forehead pressed against the force field. “NIA!”

His screams send a shiver down Alex’s spine. Her hands are shaking, as she motions for the others to stand back. “I need more space!”

Eve makes sure that J’onn and M’gann step back.

“NIA!” Brainy punches against the invisible wall over and over again. “Alex, is she breathing? ALEX!”

“I need to concentrate!”, Alex screams, which causes the lab to go dead silent. Tears stream down Brainy’s face. Blood trickles down the side of Nia’s face. Her knuckles are red and bloody. But what worries him the most, is how her chest vibrates with every breath.

“She is still breathing”, Alex mumbles. The team respires.

J’onn grabs her by the arm and pulls Alex aside: “You need to get rid of the collar around Lena’s neck. It is rigged to Supergirl using her powers. We can’t risk helping Supergirl until the collar is removed.”

The horror is visible in Alex’s eyes.

“Eve! I need your help over here!”, she calls out.

Within seconds Eve has put on a new pair of gloves and hurries to Alex’s side.

“You need to take care of Dreamer. Establish a line and give her fluids. You’ve got this.” 

Eve doesn’t ask what Alex intends to do. Instead, she rushes to Dreamer’s side. Brainy watches her closely, still crying unscrupulously. Alex turns around to get to Lena. 

Horror rushes through her body, as she sees a figure bent over her friend.

“Get away from her!”, she screams and pulls her weapon.

Lillian doesn’t even flinch. “We don’t have time for this, Agent Danvers. My daughter is going to die if we don’t get this collar off her.”

The agent still doesn’t holster her weapon. She knows that behind her, J’onn and M’gann have taken their stand to fight by her side if necessary. What she doesn’t know, is that even Eve has pulled the scalpel on the tray a little closer.

Lillian is a Luthor after all. And she can’t be trusted. Not after everything she did with Cadmus. Not after working with Lex for so long.

“Put that toy away and let me save my daughter.”

Only hesitantly Alex holsters her gun and walks towards the bed. “You know how to get the collar off? Can we break through the lock?”

„It’s Nth metal. Unbreakable. But the fabric Lex used has a weakness. In extremely cold temperatures it becomes porous. Then we might be able to cut it.”

“Might?”, Alex asks forcefully.

Lillian raises an eyebrow: “You have a better plan?” Alex remains silent. “I thought so. We need liquid nitrogen. A lot of it. And the sharpest knife you can find.”

Alex doesn’t move a muscle. 

“Did I stutter?”

Still nothing. Alex doesn’t want to trust this woman. Lena’s rhythm is still irregular. And Kara is depending on her. Alex has never seen Lillian anxious or impatient before. But right now she seems to be close to breaking point. Could she really be this worried about Lena? 

With every peep from the monitor attached to Lena, Alex is reminded that she is running out of time. So she doesn’t hesitate any longer.

Kara closes her eyes for a split second. They are out of danger. She takes a deep breath and turns around.

Lex has crossed his arms in front of his body. She only needs to get him to talk. Give the team enough time to get the collar off.

“I fulfilled my part of the bargain”, Lex says almost bored of his own game. “It’s time you fulfil yours.”

The Kryptonite suit rests heavily in Kara’s hand. She knows she shouldn’t. But she doesn’t have another choice. If she doesn’t give it to Lex, he will kill Lena on the spot. And that’s not worth it. Not for Kara.

Carefully, Kara places the container on the ground and kicks it in Lex’s direction. It misses his position by a few feet and vanishes in the rubble. But Lex’s couldn’t care less. He doesn’t want the suit. He wants Supergirl without her defenses. 

Waiting for Lex to make the next move, Kara listens closely to what is happening in the lab.

_“Put that toy away and let me save my daughter.”_ Come on, Alex, you need to work with Lillian. You need to save Lena.

“How is this going to end?”, Kara asks loudly, to keep Lex occupied. “You’ll kill me? And your sister?”

“I have a present for you, Supergirl”, he says, ignoring her words. He throws something at her, and she has to fight against every fiber of her being to not use her superspeed to catch it. It lands in her hands nonetheless. She looks down and flinches as she realizes what object it is. It’s a collar, just like the one he had forced on Lena.

Remembering what Lena had told her about it, she expects the collar to send needles through her veins and braces herself. But nothing happens.

“Don’t worry”, Lex says, “this one is not laced with kryptonite. I want to control you, not torture you.”

As if those two things weren’t one and the same. Kara looks from the collar back to Lex, who is smirking at her.

“This”, Lex exclaims, incurring her attention again, “is how it’s going to end.”

Kara just stares at the collar in her hand. Once she puts this on, it’s over.

“As much as I love this silent starring contest, I am getting a little impatient.”

_“Is that enough?”_

_“Only one way to find out.”_ Silence. Come on, Lillian. Make good on your promise.

“Supergirl!” She snaps her head up. Lex has his finger on his watch. “I don’t like being kept waiting.”

Just a little more time. “I won’t put this on”, Kara exclaims with as much force as she can muster. “If I do, I risk far more than just one life.”

Of course, Lex knows that. But he also knows that he has the most powerful trump at his fingertips. He scoffs: “While that is true, we both know that you would never exchange my sister’s life for anything. Even if it meant losing everyone else. That’s just what love does, isn’t it? It makes you powerless and weak. You have chosen your path, Supergirl. It’s time you make the first step.”

To see Lex lay out everything that Kara had been feeling within the last few moments, makes her shiver. He lifts his eyebrow and taps at his watch as a final warning.

She is out of time.

The seconds feel like hours. Kara slowly lifts the collar towards her neck. When the soft fabric touches her skin, she hears it.

_“It’s off! Thank goodness!”_

Relief rushes through Kara’s body and revives every last cell. A smile creeps onto her face.

“What are you smiling about?”, Lex asks and looks at his watch. Before he has a chance to react, Supergirl flies at him and pins him to the ground. 

She has to disable the Kryptonite beam in his suit. She swings at it over and over again. Then she focusses her heat vision on the suit.

But Lex doesn’t give up that easily. He shifts his feet and manages to push Supergirl off him. She rolls over the floor. When she stops, she uses her X-Ray-Vision to locate her suit. It’s just out of reach. Kara scrambles towards it, but Lex is quicker. 

The kryptonite hits her in the back, just underneath her neck. The pain is excruciating. Needles rush through her veins. But the only thing she can think of is Lena.

She has saved Kara’s life more times than the hero cares to admit. Now it’s Kara’s turn again.

One jump is all it takes. 

Her fingers clasp the container. Then the pain lessens, as the suit covers her head to toe.

“No!”, Lex screams.

But Kara doesn’t hesitate. She throws herself at him, pinning him on the ground, punching him, until the lex-o-suit gives in under her wrath and only flesh remains. He doesn’t scream and that makes Kara even angrier.

She screams as she uses her heat vision to melt the remaining pieces of metal from his body.

“Now she is showing her real face”, Lex presses out in between his teeth.

Kara rears back, to deliver the final punch. This is it. Now she can end it.

“Supergirl, stop!”

She turns to see Alex, J’onn and M’gann come towards her.

“He deserves to die!”, Kara screams, all the emotions that have been piling up in her finally rushing out. Tears blind her temporarily, but she doesn’t care. She doesn’t need to see clearly to kill him. She doesn’t know if she wants to. “He deserves so much worse!”

Kara tightens her grip around his neck.

“I know. But you can’t be the one to decide that!” Alex is appalled by her own words, but she knows that she has to convince Kara to let him live. They don’t know yet what he did to Lena and they don’t know if he had any other plans. They need him alive.

Slowly she walks towards her sister: “Please!”

“You won’t get to her”, Lex sneers. “Not after what I have done to her beloved.”

“Do you want her to kill you?”, Alex screams to shut Lex up. But the smile on his face makes her pause. Something is wrong. “This is what he wants”, she silently realizes.

“What?”, Kara calls out.

“That’s what he wants!”, Alex repeats. “He wants to corrupt you.” She places a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “You need to think about Lena. What would she want?”

Kara laughs bleakly: “She killed him, Alex. Why shouldn’t I do the same?”

“Because you saw what it did to her. How broken she was. How it forced her onto a dark path. Don’t make the same mistake she did.”

That’s what breaks Kara. She brings her fist down to the ground, right next to Lex’s head.

Alex pulls her sister onto her feet and into a tight hug. “Shhht… It’s ok. Lena is safe, she is stable.”

“Well if she can’t do it, I have to.”

They startle and turn to see Lillian, the portal from her watch closing behind her. Before anyone can even think of doing something to stop her, she has aimed the pistol at her own son. He laughs defeated.

The shot echoes through the lab.

And just like that, it’s over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was only able to upload this chapter one day earlier as usual, but I hope it still helps ;)  
> I can't promise that the epilogue will be finished by tomorrow, but I should be able to upload it during Christmas or Boxing day.  
> As always, let me know what you think about this chapter :D


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